SHILDT SAYS: Discussing Tuesday’s Pitching Match Up and Loading Up with Righties Against Cubs’ Ace; Thoughts on Merrill, Vásquez, Musgrove
The Padres Tuesday night are packing their lineup with right-handed hitters against Cubs’ left-handed starter Shota Imanaga (5–0, 0.78 earned run average) at Wrigley Field in Chicago with both Jackson Merrill and Luis Arraez getting the night off.
“It’s kind of a plan with Merrill, getting him a day off before the day game Wednesday,” said Padres manager Mike Shildt. “But what a great opportunity and challenge to be able to have (Fernando) Tatis (Jr.), Manny (Machado), (Donovan) Solano, (Xander) Bogaerts and (Ha-Seong) Kim.”
“So, today, we just thought, ‘okay, it’s been a whirlwind for Merrill and give him a start off and we’ll see how the game unfolds. It’s a combination of a day off and lefty starting. Jackson will be back in there tomorrow. He’s an every-day guy for us. We’re giving him a day with the short turn-around, but he could show up at a later time in the game.”
Shildt further discussed Imanaga: “The fastball and splitter are what we’re looking to expect. We have a plan. Now it’s just a matter of the execution and what that looks like. We know what he does. We just have to change that around a little bit. We’re getting more right-handed bats in there relative to the lefty starting.”
“I think the competitive spirit comes out regardless of who is pitching. But now you look up and say ‘all right, this guy is having a lot of success in what he’s doing.’ And then, what are we going to do to combat it. Will we be the team that has the right approach and also the execution to match it.”
Shildt on Padres starter Randy Vásquez: “He has the weapons. All of us, starting in spring training, have been watching Randy pitch. We recognize the talent, recognize the pitches, recognize the star-quality stuff. It’s just a matter, like anything else, the consistency of it. It starts with fastball command and controlling the counts.”
Shildt on future starts in the this slot until Joe Musgrove returns from the injured list: “We’ll evaluate today and go from there. We’ll take inventory about how today goes. We’re hopeful, but we’re not going to push, that Joe, relative to days off, misses just one other start in his spot. And then after that he has a chance to be back. It looks like a two-start hiatus potentially.”
Shildt on Merrill getting picked off Monday night: “We don’t like it, but it’s case-by-case. We want to be an aggressive team and you preach that. There’s going to be moments like last night, but it’s been part of our identity and won us a lot of games. You’re going to have a one off … it happens. Last night’s was more of a full count. It wasn’t about stealing a base, it’s more of starting the runner and he got caught . We’ll learn from it.”
