Series Preview: Rockies Return for their Second Series at Petco in 2018

Petco Park, San Diego, CA
5/14-5/15

When the Colorado Rockies take the field against the San Diego Padres on Monday night, it will be the 11th time the two teams have met on the young season.

The series has seen just about everything; bench-clearing brawls, Christian Villanueva’s three-home run game, and a couple Major League debuts from Padres’ top prospects, Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer.

Continuing the fun, Dominican outfielder Franmil Reyes will make his MLB debut, as the 22-year-old will look to carry over his hot bat for a struggling Padres offense.

Game 1 (7:10 PT): Tyler Anderson (2-1, 4.23 ERA) vs. Joey Lucchesi (3-2, 2.98 ERA)

Tyler Anderson has always pitched well against the San Diego Padres. In 30 innings against the Padres during his career, Anderson has only allowed six runs while striking out 27, for a 1.80 ERA. He will look to continue that hot streak as this will be the third time he has faced the Padres this season.

When Lucchesi takes the ball against the Rockies, it will be the third time he has faced them in his career, with his first start being his MLB debut at Petco, and his second start in Colorado being his first MLB win. In 11 innings this year against Colorado, Lucchesi has allowed no earned runs while striking out 15.

Game 2 (7:10 PT): German Marquez (2-4, 5.35 ERA) vs. Jordan Lyles (0-1, 3.28 ERA)

The last time the Padres faced German Marquez, it ended in a bench-clearing brawl. Marquez would only throw three innings, after he was ejected for his role in the fight. Marquez has had a bad start to the season and the Padres will look to take advantage of the right-hander’s ineffective pitching; 19 walks, 23 earned runs in only 38.2 innings pitched.

Jordan Lyles has never beaten the Colorado Rockies, his former team. Going into his second start of 2018, Lyles will look to break a bad trend, as he has allowed 16 earned runs in four starts against the Rockies. The hope is that Lyles will continue a strong 2018 start and give the Padres some much-needed consistency in the rotation.

Hitters to Watch:

David Dahl (COL): The left-hand-hitting Dahl was injured for the majority of the 2017 season. He has made a long journey back to Major League Baseball and he does not appear ready to go back to the minor leagues with a .321/.379/.547 slash line.

Trevor Story (COL): Story has hit three home runs in his last seven games, and it may be a bad time for the Padres to face the power hitter as he has hit eight home runs in his career against the Padres.

Nolan Arenado (COL): In his first at-bat on Monday night, Arenado will have faced the Padres more than any other team in his career, being his 382nd plate appearance. The Gold-Glover has hit 21 home runs in his career against the Padres, tied for the most against any team with the San Francisco Giants.

Franmil Reyes (SD): Reyes will get his first taste of MLB on Monday night against the Rockies as the Padres are planning on calling up the big outfielder, who has a video game-like slash line of .346/.440/.748 for the El Paso Chihuahuas. He should be given regular at-bats in his time at the MLB level as the Padres are trying to determine just what they have.

Cory Spangenberg (SD): Spangenberg is going to be given a closer look at third base for the Padres, and it is the perfect time for him to face the Rockies as he has a .311 batting average against them in his career in 141 at-bats.

Freddy Galvis (SD): Galvis is one of the Padres hitters in a funk after a hot start to the season. He was in this section at the start of the Cardinals series and was unable to get anything going. Call it a hunch, but Galvis should get his bat going here against the Rockies.

Patrick Cusick

Since he was a little kid he wanted to be one of those guys at the game who had the headset on, listening to the Colonel and Uncle Teddy, he has grown out of that, but the love is still there. Padres’ coverage will be biased at times, but mostly an honest dissection of the team he loves.