Padres stay winning, turn to Colorado hoping for offensive spark

Taking the mound

Chase Dollander (COL) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)

Dollander has been used more as a bulk relief pitcher for the Rockies. His 2026 has been much better than 2025, and that’s in large part because of the way Colorado has deployed him. He’s pitched to a 3.32 ERA across 19 innings. Colorado will likely start the game with one of their relievers for the first inning before giving the game over to Dollander. He pitched quite well against San Diego in their series against the Rox last week (2 ER, 5.1 IP). If Dollander can limit the Friars in the hitter-friendly Coors Field, San Diego may struggle early against him. Vásquez finally looked human his last time on the mound. He gave up four runs across four innings to the Seattle Mariners, but the Friars still managed to win the game with some late-inning magic. He still leads the Padres’ starting rotation in ERA with a fantastic 2.49 mark. The Padres swept the Rox last week in a four-game set, and Vásquez dominated Colorado his last time facing them. He gave up only one run in 5 2/3 innings pitched. If Vásquez can do the same against the Colorado lineup this time around, the Friars will have no problems sweeping the Rox again. Doing that in Denver will be difficult with the hitter-friendly environs of Coors Field, but if any Padre can, it’s Vásquez.

Batter up!

After Jake Cronenworth got hit in the face by a pitch on Saturday night, he was out of the lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Halos. He’ll likely be back in the lineup for tonight’s matchup. With the off day yesterday, the regular starters will likely be out in full force against Colorado:

1. Ramón Laureano, LF
2. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
3. Jackson Merrill, CF
4. Manny Machado, 3B
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Gavin Sheets, 1B
7. Nick Castellanos, DH
8. Freddy Fermin, C
9. Jake Cronenworth, 2B Castellanos could get a start in the DH slot after being on the bench for awhile. He hasn’t played in the last two games and could see time in today’s series opener.

Relief corps

With King pitching a solid five innings, the Padres used four relievers (three low-leverage options) in Ron Marinaccio, Kyle Hart, Bradgley Rodriguez and Miller. Miller extended his scoreless streak to 32 2/3 innings, putting him an inning away from the franchise record set by Cla Meredith. That leaves Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon, David Morgan and Wandy Peralta available for tonight’s game. That being said, with the off day yesterday, it’s likely that everyone will be available to pitch. But certainly those four will be first out of the ‘pen after Vásquez’s start.