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Jake Peavy
hopes to help the
San Diego Padres
defeat the
Arizona Diamondbacks
for the first time this season when the NL West rivals continue a three-game series at Chase Field on Tuesday.
Peavy (3-3, 3.61 ERA) is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA over his last three outings after turning in his best effort of the year in his
last start. He yielded just two hits over seven scoreless innings and matched a career high with 13 strikeouts in outing for
an 8-5 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday.
''When you have good stuff, you're going to end up striking guys out,'' said Peavy, who threw 109 pitches. ''I just hate that
I threw so many pitches. I should have finished that game. I wanted to finish that game. Not that I was walking a lot of guys,
just going deep in counts, striking guys out. So it was one of those things.''
The right-hander gave up six runs and 10 hits over 6 1-3 innings in a 7-0 home loss to the Diamondbacks on April 25. Peavy
has struggled in his career at Phoenix, going 2-4 with a 6.69 ERA in seven starts.
He will likely be caught by
Mike Piazza
, who received the day off Monday. Piazza had a strong series over the weekend against the
Chicago Cubs
, going 6-for-12 with five RBIs.
Orlando Hernandez
(2-4, 7.36) starts for the first time since May 7 for Arizona. With a rainout last week in Pittsburgh in mind, manager
Bob Melvin
pushed the veteran's scheduled start from Sunday to Tuesday because of recent struggles El Duque has had.
''It is where we are right now,'' Melvin said. ''I try not to deal in hypotheticals. We just felt like it weighed a little
heavier to just scoot him back a couple days.''
Hernandez has lasted six innings just twice in seven outings. He gave up a season-high eight runs and nine hits - including
three homers - in a 9-8 loss to Cincinnati in his last start.
The right-hander's last victory came on April 26 at San Diego when he allowed season lows of one run and two hits over six
innings in a 3-2 victory.
Hernandez is still looking for his win of the year at Chase Field, where he is 0-3 with a 11.44 ERA in four starts.
San Diego (22-17) had its franchise-record eight-game road winning streak snapped with a 6-5, 10-inning loss in the series
opener on Monday. The Padres are 0-4 against the Diamondbacks this season.
Arizona (21-17) prevailed on
Shawn Green
's RBI single in the 10th. Green had three hits and is hitting .588 (10-for-17) this season against San Diego.
''They're playing better than anybody else in baseball, and to get that first game of the series, especially with their ace
(
Jake Peavy
) going (Tuesday), that was big for us,'' Green said.
Three Diamondbacks relievers combined for four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. Arizona's bullpen has a 0.90 ERA
against San Diego this year, yielding only four hits in 10 innings.
Third baseman
Chad Tracy
went 0-for-5 and is hitless in 16 at-bats against the Padres this year. Tracy is also hitting just .130 (3-for-23) with eight
strikeouts in his career against Peavy.
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