Game Notes @ SF (05.06) Kennedy Tasked with Preventing Sweep
By Friar Wire
The Padres suffered another shutout loss to the Giants Tuesday, losing by a score of 6–0 and extending their consecutive scoreless streak to 20 innings.
With Tuesday’s loss, the Padres are now on the brink of being swept at AT&T Park for the first time since April of 2013. To stop the sweep and get the Friars back on track, RHP Ian Kennedy will be sent to the mound against RHP Chris Heston. Kennedy, over 22 career starts against San Francisco, owns a 9–4 record with a 2.48 ERA over 138 innings pitched with 118 strikeouts. Kennedy also owns the second-lowest ERA in ballpark history at AT&T Park with a 2.60 ERA in 11 starts — second only to Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw.
Kennedy won’t be alone in his efforts to stop the hot-running Giants, however. Here are some highlights from today’s game notes to get you ready for the series finale in San Francisco:
It may not look like it lately, but the Friars are still well-oiled run producing machines. Despite being shutout in their past two games, the Padres 131 runs scored through the first 28 games this season still stands as the highest total in the National League. In that same stretch of 28 games, the Padres have had seven games where the club scores seven or more runs. Notably, the club did not have their first game of seven or more runs scored last season until May 9th against Miami.
Although rookie Austin Hedges is getting his first Major League start behind the plate on Wednesday, catcher Derek Norris has seen great success defensively behind the dish. Norris has thrown out 11 stolen base attempts this season, the highest total in the Majors this year. The 11 runners thrown out also marks a new career-high for Norris who only threw out 8 runners all of last season with Oakland.
Speaking of backstops, at 22-years old, Hedges will be the youngest catcher to start a game for the Padres since Ben Davis made 71 starts with the Friars back in 1999. Hedges will be catching Kennedy today, along with the possibility of catching a renewed Padres bullpen that has posted a 1.42 ERA over the last five games. The bullpen has also held the opposition to a .182 batting average over that span while also striking out thirteen.
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