Padres open final homestand against Diamondbacks
SAN DIEGO -- The final Petco Park homestand of the season, a seven-game stretch, begins Monday when the San Diego Padres face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series.
Luis Perdomo (7-10, 4.61 ERA) gets the start against Arizona as he tries to establish himself as a staple for the Padres' future.
Arizona will counter with Patrick Corbin (14-12, 4.06 ERA).
While the Diamondbacks are almost certainly headed to the playoffs, the Padres are pointed back to the drawing board. They are looking ahead to 2018, and Perdomo hopes to pencil himself in as one of the five starters.
The right-hander, who has lost four of his past five decisions, has worked six innings or more in each of his past 10 starts, dating to July 22.
"For me, the big thing right now is staying focused and worrying about my work," Perdomo told MLB.com. "I'm trying to put myself in a good position so next year, whenever those decisions are made, I'm in a good spot. (But) I have no control over that."
His last time out wasn't bad. He allowed three runs on five hits, walked two and had four strikeouts in six innings when falling to the Diamondbacks on Sept. 10.
Perdomo served up three homers, two to J.D. Martinez and one to Paul Goldschmidt.
"They were (three) bad pitches," Perdomo said. "I think they were mistakes. They were errors on my part, and I paid the price for them."
Perdomo is 3-4 with a 5.40 ERA in 10 career games (six starts) against the Diamondbacks. Will he be one of the foundations of a young rotation going forward?
"He's trying to pitch himself into that," Padres manager Andy Green said. "The message repetitively from us is, 'Let's get better, let's get better. There's more there.'
"The elimination of a certain type of pitch. The execution of pitches that are great for him. I don't think anybody's done enough to say they're a building block for us.
"He's in contention to be a guy for us. And we like that, but the bar is higher, and we need him to clear it."
Corbin has won six of his past seven starts, with the Padres pinning the loss on him on Sept. 8. San Diego ambushed Corbin for eight runs on 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Corbin, who is 5-6 with a 4.29 ERA in 15 career games (10 starts) against the Padres, rebounded from that start to beat the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. The southpaw surrendered a run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings.
"When you got 6 2/3, 105 pitches and allow one run, you're doing something very, very special," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com.
Rockies skipper Bud Black tipped his cap to Corbin after that performance.
"He located the fastball when he needed to, but it was more about the slider," Black said. "We struggled against him."
The Padres scuffled of late before snapping a five-game losing streak on Sunday with a 4-3 win over the Rockies.
The Diamondbacks, who are closing in on a National League wild-card berth, fell 7-2 to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday, snapping a four-game winning streak.
