San Francisco's pitching picture is bleaker. Trevor McDonald is done for the year and heading for elbow reconstruction in early August, one more arm off a staff that already can't miss many more Vitello has to piece things together on the fly, and the results have been ugly — the Giants got outscored 8-2 by Milwaukee in their last outing after riding a shutout the game before.
San Diego just walked off Colorado 8-7 on Tuesday behind a Fernando Tatis Jr. five-hit night and a game-tying, then game-winning rally in the ninth. That's their fourth straight win, and it comes on the heels of Manny Machado going deep twice against Atlanta. Whatever's ailing the rotation, the lineup is compensating.
San Francisco's injury list reads like a scouting report on what's gone wrong all year: Harrison Bader hurt his foot in a scooter accident, Casey Schmitt tore his meniscus, Matt Chapman's abdomen still has no timetable. Rafael Devers has been the one bright spot, delivering the walk-off that snapped a five-game skid last week, but he can't cover four other open lineup spots by himself.
The Giants are 15-plus games back in the NL West and widely expected to sell before next week's deadline, with Luis Arraez and Robbie Ray drawing the most interest. The Padres, meanwhile, sit right in the thick of the wild-card scrum. That contrast in stakes is going to be obvious from the first pitch at 6:40 PM PT.