San Diego Padres

Richard leads Padres against Giants Saturday night

Published Apr. 14, 2018 11:20 a.m. ET

SAN DIEGO -- The better question might be, who is not pitching for the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres these days rather than who will be taking the mound.

Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija are on the disabled list for the Giants.

And the Padres learned Friday afternoon that No. 2 starter Dinelson Lamet will miss the entire 2018 season with Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery while Luis Perdomo will miss his next scheduled start because he is serving a five-game suspension for throwing behind Nolan Arenado in Colorado Wednesday afternoon.

But that won't affect Saturday night's pairing at Petco Park as the Padres host the Giants for round three of a four-game series.

The pairing of left-handers matches the Giants' Derek Holland (0-2, 4.09 ERA) against the Padres' Clayton Richard (1-1, 5.29). Despite all the changes both teams have faced in their rotations, Richard and Holland opened the season with assured spots.

And while Richard has faced the Giants 20 times over the course of his career, Holland will be making only his second start against the Padres and his first-ever outing at Petco Park.

Holland will be making his third start for the Giants and the 187th of his career. The first 184 of those were for American League teams. He signed with San Francisco in the offseason as a minor league free agent and pitched his way into the rotation during spring training.

"Derek deserves a little better than he's experienced thus far with us," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "We've scored one run in the two games he's pitched and that came in a 2-1 loss. He's pitched better than two losses."

In his most recent outing, Holland, who had his start pushed back due to a rainout, allowed two runs on only two hits and eight strikeouts in six innings. In his two starts, he has allowed only five hits in 11 innings, although he has issued four walks.

Holland's only previous start against the Padres came on June 27, 2009, when he allowed seven runs (six earned) on 13 hits in 5 2/3 innings while pitching for the Texas Rangers. The 13 hits allowed equaled a career-high.

Richard, the Padres' Opening Day starter, will be making his fourth start of the season. He allowed only one run on six hits over seven innings in the opener. But in his last two starts, he has given up nine runs on 13 hits and six walks with nine strikeouts in 10 innings.

"The formula is pretty simple for Clayton," said Padres manager Andy Green. "If he gets ground balls, he's going to be successful."

Richard has already seen action against the Giants this series. He singled as a pinch-hitter in the third inning Thursday night -- and that turned out to be the only hit the Padres got.

Richard was 0-2 in three starts against the Giants last season with 5.29 ERA. The Giants hit .324 against Richard in 2017 with a 1.647 WHIP. Richard is 6-7 against the Giants in his career with a 4.11 ERA in 20 games (17 starts). He has a 30-27 record in two stints with the Padres at Petco Park with a 3.26 ERA in 75 games (73 starts).

Green hasn't decided who will start in Perdomo's scheduled spot Monday against the Dodgers, although it will likely be either Robbie Erlin or Jordan Lyles. Both have been sharp out of the Padres' bullpen.

The teams split the first two games of this series, with San Diego winning Friday 5-1.