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Seattle's
Joel Pineiro
hopes to even his record and defeat San Diego for the third time in his career as Mariners and Padres close their series at
Petco Park on Sunday.
In his last start, Pineiro (6-7, 5.34 ERA) struggled through 6 1-3 innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts
in a 9-4 win against the
Los Angeles Dodgers
. That was in contrast to his previous two starts in which he 11 earned runs in 9 1-3 innings in losses to Minnesota and Oakland.
''I tried everything I could and I did it badly,'' Pineiro said after his 7-2 loss to the Athletics on June 14. ''I can't
go any crazier than I am. I'm trying to be too perfect and I can't finish guys off.''
Against NL opponents, though, he seems more relaxed. Pineiro is 9-4 with a 2.28 ERA all-time in interleague play, hopes he
can repeat his success against the Padres.
He is 2-0 with a 3.48 ERA and opponents batting average of .213 against them.
The Mariners (37-39) have won six of their last eight, including a sweep of San Francisco from June 16-18.
San Diego (39-35) begins play tied with the
Los Angeles Dodgers
atop the NL West, and will send right-hander
Mike Thompson
(3-3, 4.62) to the mound for his first appearance against Seattle.
Against Texas on Tuesday, Thompson gave up four runs and nine hits in five innings. He had been 0-2 in his previous four starts.
Seattle may be without rookie catcher
Kenji Johjima
for this contest. He homered twice in a 9-5 win on Saturday for his first multihomer game.
''We made a lot of mistakes to him tonight,'' Padres manager
Bruce Bochy
said. ''We threw quite a few balls right in his wheel house. Give him credit. He's not missing them.''
Johjima, though, suffered a bruised quadricep when he took a batted ball just above his shin guard. The Japanese-born catcher,
who has hit half of his eight homers this season against the Padres, is listed as day-to-day.
Teammate
Raul Ibanez
also homered twice and has three through the first two games of the series.
Mike Piazza
hit one of four homers for San Diego, giving him 407 for his career and tying him with
Duke Snider
for 40th on the all-time list.
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