MLB Game Preview - Colorado at San Diego

Thu Aug 8, 2019 10:10 PM EDT

The two teams with the worst records in the National League West meet in a four-game series in San Diego beginning Thursday, hoping to reverse some problematic trends.

The San Diego Padres are 7-16 since the All-Star break and are 25-30 this season at home, where they have lost 10 of their past 12 games. Since July 1, the Padres are 10-19. They are in fourth place in the NL West, a half-game ahead of the Colorado Rockies, who are limping into Petco Park for a long weekend.

The Rockies are 8-23 since the last day of June, dropping them into the division cellar. And on the road this season, Colorado is 23-35.

The only startling thing in this scenario is that the Rockies have won the only two times the teams have played this season at Petco Park. The clubs still have seven games to play in San Diego and 10 overall meetings to go this season -- roughly 20 percent of each team's remaining games.

The Rockies have a 6-3 record against the Padres this year, due in part to the efforts of the two pitchers starting Thursday night, Colorado right-hander Jon Gray (10-7, 4.03 ERA) and Padres left-hander Eric Lauer (6-8, 4.43).

The 6-foot-4, 27-year-old Gray has a 10-3 career record against the Padres with a 2.87 ERA, a 1.058 WHIP and a .232 opponents' batting average in 19 career appearances (18 starts). He is 5-2 in eight career starts at Petco Park with a 2.42 ERA, a 1.042 WHIP and a .217 OBA.

He made one previous start at Petco Park this season, holding the Padres to one run on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts over seven innings to earn an 8-2 victory on April 16. Gray entered that game with three losses in his first three starts of the year.

"Gray has always been tough on us," Padres manager Andy Green said earlier this season. "Our best success has come when we've forced him to come up into the zone. If he gets us swinging at balls below the zone, we're in trouble."

As for Lauer, the Rockies -- particularly at Coors Field -- have been a nightmare.

To get an idea, compare Lauer's career marks against two NL West rivals:

Lauer vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers -- 4-0 in six career starts with a 1.72 ERA, a 0.927 WHIP and a .190 opponents' batting average.

Lauer vs. the Rockies -- 0-3 in four career starts with a 12.51 ERA, a 2.488 WHIP and a .364 OBA. In 13 2/3 career innings against the Rockies, Lauer has given up 21 runs (19 earned) on 24 hits and 10 walks with eight strikeouts.

Most of the damage has been done at Coors Field, where Lauer has a 19.73 ERA in three starts with a 3.692 WHIP and a .500 OBA (24-for-48).

"We've discussed the Rockies and Coors Field with Eric," Green said recently. "We're going to play there, and he is going to have to pitch there."

But the best thing going for Lauer on Thursday night is that the game is at Petco Park, where the Padres are 5-4 when he starts this season.

And it doesn't hurt that the Rockies arrive having just been swept in a two-game series at Houston, where the Astros outscored them 25-9. Three Colorado rookie pitchers were battered for 14 runs on 12 hits and nine walks in eight innings Wednesday.

"Those were rookie pitchers trying to maybe do a little bit too much or be a little bit too fine," Rockies manager Bud Black said, according to the Denver Post. "The result of that was nine walks ... They'll soon learn walks will always come back to haunt you."

--Field Level Media