San Diego Padres (63-52, third in the NL West) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (56-57, third in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Thursday, 12:35 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Padres: Randy Vasquez (3-6, 4.62 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 50 strikeouts); Pirates: Luis Ortiz (5-2, 3.21 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 65 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Pirates -114, Padres -105; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The San Diego Padres take on the Pittsburgh Pirates after Jackson Merrill had four hits against the Pirates on Wednesday.
Pittsburgh is 27-30 in home games and 56-57 overall. The Pirates have gone 39-17 in games when they record eight or more hits.
San Diego has a 33-23 record in road games and a 63-52 record overall. The Padres have a 47-6 record in games when they scored at least five runs.
The teams meet Thursday for the third time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Bryan Reynolds has 22 doubles, three triples and 19 home runs for the Pirates. Oneil Cruz is 11-for-39 with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and five RBI over the past 10 games.
Luis Arraez has a .302 batting average to lead the Padres, and has 20 doubles, two triples and three home runs. Xander Bogaerts is 16-for-42 with a home run and eight RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates: 4-6, .244 batting average, 4.80 ERA, outscored by five runs
Padres: 8-2, .303 batting average, 3.36 ERA, outscored opponents by 26 runs
INJURIES: Pirates: Oneil Cruz: day-to-day (illness), Joshua Palacios: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Daulton Jefferies: 60-Day IL (elbow), Carmen Mlodzinski: 15-Day IL (undisclosed), Nick Gonzales: 10-Day IL (undisclosed), Jared Jones: 15-Day IL (lat), Ryan Borucki: 60-Day IL (tricep), Dauri Moreta: 60-Day IL (elbow), Endy Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (elbow), Johan Oviedo: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Padres: Ha-Seong Kim: day-to-day (tricep), Stephen Kolek: 15-Day IL (forearm), Wandy Peralta: 15-Day IL (aductor), Joe Musgrove: 60-Day IL (elbow), Fernando Tatis Jr.: 10-Day IL (quadricep), Luis Patino: 60-Day IL (elbow)
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
