![\"Arizona](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SUT-l-pfaadt-08022026.jpg\")
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (AP Photo\/Justin Berl)\nPitching matchups<\/p>\n
San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks<\/p>\n
Game 1: 6:40 p.m. Monday (Padres.TV)
\nGame 2: 6:40 p.m. Tuesday (Padres.TV)
\nGame 3: 6:40 p.m. Wednesday (Padres.TV)
\nGame 4: 6:40 p.m. Thursday (Padres.TV)<\/p>\n
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In the standings<\/p>\n
San Diego Padres (58-54, 3rd in NL West)<\/p>\n
The Padres have won eight of nine to pull to within a game of a wild-card spot, behind both the Diamondbacks and Phillies as the current second and third wild-card spots. That\u2019s lifted the Padres\u2019 playoff odds at fangraphs.com from as low as 7% after the first two series of the second half to 31.1% as the trade deadline arrives on Monday.<\/p>\n
Arizona Diamondbacks (59-53, 2nd in NL West)<\/p>\n
The Diamondbacks\u2019 postseason odds are at 46.2% at fangraphs.com. They are tied with the Phillies in the NL wild-card race, four games behind the No. 1 Cubs, and 10 games behind the Dodgers. The D-backs and Padres have split their first six games this season\u2014two in Mexico City and four at Petco Park.<\/p>\n
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Trending<\/p>\n
San Diego: The Padres rank 16th in run differential (minus-12), 24th in OPS (.696), 27th in rotation ERA (4.66) and sixth in bullpen ERA (3.65). OF Jackson Merrill has six homers and a 1.203 OPS over his last 14 games. Three other Padres also have an OPS over .900 over the last two weeks\u2014INF Luis Rengifo (1.056 OPS, 2 HRs), 1B Ty France (1.042 OPS, 4 HRs) and OF Fernando Tatis Jr. (.903 OPS, 2 HRs)\u2014while SS Xander Bogaerts has a .594 OPS over the same stretch.<\/p>\n
Arizona: The D-backs rank 14th in run differential (plus-2), 22nd in OPS (.705), 15th in rotation ERA (4.29) and 18th in bullpen ERA (4.16). Both 3B Nolan Arenado and SS Geraldo Perdomo have two homers over the last two weeks, with Arenado\u2019s .842 OPS over that stretch leading the team\u2019s qualifiers. Perdomo (.824), OF Corbin Carroll (.805) and OF Max Kepler (.801) all have an OPS over .800 over the last two weeks, while 2B Ketel Marte has a .603 OPS over the same stretch.<\/p>\n
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Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (AP Photo\/Justin Berl)
\nPitching matchups<\/p>\n
Monday<\/p>\n
Padres RHP Michael King (6-7, 3.38 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 He went at least five innings in five starts in July (2.79 ERA) and turned in quality starts in three of those starts. King is 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA in five career starts against the Diamondbacks, including two this year (12 IP, 3 ER, 3 BBs, 12 Ks).<\/p>\n
Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (5-1, 4.00 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 He has a 1.85 ERA in six starts\u2014all wins for the Diamondbacks\u2014since returning from a minor league assignment aimed at stretching out as a starter. He has struck out 18 against four walks over those 34 innings. Pfaadt has a 4.25 ERA in 59 \u2153 career innings against the Padres, including two appearances (8 IP, 4 ER) this year.<\/p>\n
Tuesday<\/p>\n
Padres TBA\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 Who starts might hinge on what the Padres do before Monday\u2019s trade deadline, but RHP Randy V\u00e1squez (6-6, 4.45 ERA) pitched in bulk relief in this spot in the rotation on Thursday.<\/p>\n
D-backs LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (10-3, 2.48 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s allowed two earned runs or less in all but five of his 22 starts. Rodriguez has a 3.74 ERA in four career starts against the Padres, but has not faced them since allowing nine runs in 10 innings across two losses last year.<\/p>\n
Wednesday<\/p>\n
Padres TBA\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 RHP Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez (4-2, 4.67 ERA) pitched in bulk relief in this spot, throwing five scoreless innings for his first career save on Friday.<\/p>\n
D-backs LHP Mitch Bratt (0-1, 5.23 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 The 23-year-old rookie has walked (15) more than he\u2019s struck out (12) through his first five starts (20 \u2154 IP). He has yet to throw more than five innings in a game in the majors. Bratt had a 2.41 ERA in 52\u2153 innings this year at Triple-A Reno<\/p>\n
Thursday<\/p>\n
Padres RHP Walker Buehler (6-5, 5.18 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s got a 9.23 ERA in six starts since the beginning of July. He\u2019s struck out 22 against 18 walks over those 26\u2153 innings. Buehler has a 2.59 ERA in 87 innings in his career against the Diamondbacks, but he allowed seven runs in five innings in a loss this year.<\/p>\n
D-backs LHP Kohl Drake (0-0, 4.85 ERA)\u00a0\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0 The 24-year-old rookie is making the fourth start of his career. He has struck out 12 against five walks over 13 innings and has allowed three home runs so far. Drake had a 6.92 ERA in 66 \u2153 innings this year at Triple-A Reno.<\/p>\n
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Qualifying leaders<\/p>\n
OPS: Padres\u2014OF Fernando Tatis Jr. (.753), 3B Manny Machado (.722), 1B Gavin Sheets (.711); D-backs\u2014OF Corbin Carroll (.822), C Gabriel Moreno (.818), 2B Ketel Marte (.751).
\nHRs: Padres\u2014Machado (23), 1B Ty France (16), OF Jackson Merrill (16); D-backs\u2014Marte (19), Carroll (16), 3B Nolan Arenado (15).
\nRBIs: Padres\u2014Machado (65), Merrill (52), Tatis (49), France (49); D-backs\u2014Marte (62), Carroll (52), Arenado (51), 1B Ildemaro Vargas (51).
\nSteals: Padres\u2014Tatis (26), Merrill (22), SS Xander Bogaerts (15); D-backs\u2014SS Geraldo Perdomo (17), Carroll (15), DH Jose Fernandez (7).
\nSaves: Padres\u2014RHP Mason Miller (28-for-29, 0.76 ERA); D-backs\u2014RHP Paul Sewald (24-for-27, 6.45 ERA).
\nHolds: Padres\u2014LHP Adri\u00e1n Morej\u00f3n (17, 3.00 ERA), RHP Jason Adam (17, 2.51 ERA), RHP Jeremiah Estrada (16, 3.91 ERA); D-backs\u2014LHP Brandyn Garcia (13, 2.10 ERA), RHP Juan Morillo (13, 2.62 ERA), RHP Taylor Clarke (12, 2.12 ERA).<\/p>\n
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Training room<\/p>\n
San Diego: RHPs Joe Musgrove (elbow) and Nick Pivetta (flexor) are expected to start rehab assignments on Tuesday with low Single-A Lake Elsinore. RHP David Morgan (knee) threw Sunday for Triple-A El Paso. RHP Lucas Giolito (elbow) and OF Samad Taylor (oblique) are rehabbing in Arizona. RHP Jason Adam (shoulder) is not back to throwing yet but eyeing a late-August return. INF Miguel Andujar (wrist) should return from the 10-day injured list at some point this season.<\/p>\n
Arizona: RHPs Justin Martinez (Tommy John) and Michael Soroka (glute) and LHP Blake Walston (Tommy John) are expected to be on rehab assignments this week. RHP Corbin Burnes (Tommy John \/ Teres major strain) is nearing mound work as he looks to return in September. The pitching staff is also without RHPs Zac Gallen (elbow), Drey Jameson (hip), Cristian Mena (Teres major) and Ryne Nelson (flexor\/UCL) and LHPs A.J. Puk (shoulder) and Andrew Saalfrank (shoulder). The lineup is missing OF Jordan Lawlar (hamstring), OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (adductor) and OF Tommy Troy (AC joint).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego Padres at Arizona Diamondbacks Game 1: 6:40 p.m. Monday (Padres.TV) Game 2: 6:40 p.m. Tuesday (Padres.TV)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-422756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}