The San Diego Padres need a hot streak coming out of the All-Star break, and there’s little doubt about the best pitcher to help them accomplish that. They’ll send Michael King to the mound against Seth Lugo for the Kansas City Royals as they try to continue their climb back into the playoff race.
San Diego’s circumstances are well known at this point. The Padres are 48-48, and no one knows if they’re going to be buyers or sellers. They rebounded from a brutal stretch by taking two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays last weekend, and they badly need to at least win this series against the woeful Royals.
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King isn’t ideally suited to lead the charge, but he’s the best they have at this point. The pitcher has acknowledged that he hasn’t really put it all together in a single start, but he’s managed to do more than enough to establish himself as something resembling an ace in a thin rotation.
The Padres will take what he’s given them in his last two starts, however. King went six innings each against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively, and he gave up a run against Arizona and a pair versus the Dodgers.
His mound opponent will be Seth Lugo, who’s in his own version of trade limbo. Lugo is 36, and he’s pitching inconsistently for a bad team. His ERA is high at 4.56, but the Royals have maintained that he’ll be an expensive acquisition at the deadline despite his age and numbers.
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The Royals are tied with the Angels for the worst record in baseball right now at 38-59, so this sounds like a great setup for the Padres. Be careful what you ask for, though, as this is exactly the kind of situation where the Padres offense has gone cold for the last few weeks.
Manny Machado has been hitting lately, so the offensive focus will shift to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill. Tatis has been an excellent leadoff man, but the Padres are paying him to hit homers, not set the table, and he’s got just five right now. Merrill, meanwhile, has been awful so far, so he needs to stop chasing and start hitting.
It’s a big series for San Diego given what’s coming next week. The Padres play four against the Atlanta Braves, and after that they get the Miami Marlins at the tail end of this crucial road trip, which will go a long way toward telling us if they’re pretenders or contenders.
