With homestand sweep complete, Padres face burgeoning Halos ace

Taking the mound

José Soriano (LAA) v. Matt Waldron (SD)

Soriano has been absolutely *incredible* for the Halos so far this year. He’s pitched to a 0.33 ERA across 27 innings. He’s had a crazy breakout this season, limiting batters to a .103 average. The right-hander has only allowed one run this season. That lone run came in his longest start of the year (8.0 innings) against an Atlanta Braves offense that has been potent. The Padres will have to hope they can do what no other team has yet: get to Soriano. If they don’t, they’ll hope to at least get a shot at the Angels’ lackluster bullpen. Waldron pitched three scoreless outings in Triple-A after rehabbing his way back from preseason surgery. He’s the last remaining true knuckleball pitcher in MLB. This will be Waldron’s first start with the big-league club since his lone 2025 start against the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s struggled with consistency in the majors. But if Waldron can get off to a good start against Los Angeles, it’ll go a long way to soothing concerns about Nick Pivetta’s temporary absence from the rotation.

Batter up!

With a right-hander on the mound in Soriano, the Friars will likely go with a similar lineup as yesterday’s. That being said, Ty France has good numbers against Soriano (4-for-8 with 5 RBI) so he could see time at first base.

1. Ramón Laureano, LF
2. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
3. Jackson Merrill, CF
4. Manny Machado, 3B
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Gavin Sheets, DH
7. Ty France, 1B
8. Luis Campusano, C
9. Jake Cronenworth, 2B Campusano will keep getting starts at catcher until Freddy Fermin returns from his recent concussion scare. That’s a-ok for the Friars since Campy has been destroying baseballs lately (and owns a .500 career average against Soriano). Tatis has also put up some slug against the righty. Perhaps he could finally end his season-long homer drought tonight?

Relief corps

With Buehler going five-plus innings, the winning formula for San Diego was on full display: the starter leaves with a lead, and the ‘pen does exactly what it does best. Never was that more true than last night. Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam and Mason Miller covered four scoreless innings. Morejon continues to look more and more like his dominant self, and Adam continues to wow in his return from injury. Miller took Randy Jones’ place on the Padres’ leaderboard after last night with 30 2/3 scoreless innings pitched. The only one standing in his way from the top spot is Cla Meredith’s 33 2/3 mark. For tonight’s game, that leaves Kyle Hart, Ron Marinaccio, David Morgan and Wandy Peralta. The first out of the bullpen if San Diego has a lead would be Hart, given his lack of use in the last few games. But it wouldn’t be surprising to see Morgan come out in a high-leverage spot.