San Diego is 20-14 and somehow feels worse than that — they've dropped 4 of their last 5. San Francisco is 14-21 and feels exactly that bad. The matchup tonight is two pitchers carrying ERAs north of 4 into a ballpark that usually bails them out, and a Padres roster duct-taped together by an MLB-worthy injury list.
Buehler is the story heading in. He's 1-2 with a 5.40 and his last outing — 4.2 innings, 2 earned, 3 walks in a Padres loss to the Cubs — had him publicly frustrated, with the writeups openly questioning whether his rotation spot is safe. That's not great when the rotation he's trying to hang onto is already without Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Nick Pivetta and German Marquez. There is no Plan B behind him; he kind of has to figure it out tonight.
Webb's numbers (2-3, 4.30) are still being dragged around by an Opening Day blowup against the Yankees where he gave up 7. Strip that out and his recent work looks more like the Webb you remember — one outing earlier in the year was 7 innings of 1-run ball with 6 punchouts that the Giants offense promptly wasted. Which has been the through-line of San Francisco's season: Webb pitches okay, the lineup goes quiet, the bullpen leaks.
- Day-To-DayBlake Hunt C — Hunt is dealing with an oblique injury and has been shut down from activity, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
- 7-day ilJake Cronenworth 2B — Cronenworth is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Angels.
- 10-Day-ILWill Wagner 3B — Wagner (oblique) began a minor-league rehab stint with Triple-A El Paso on Friday and went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run in his first game.
- 15-Day-ILGerman Marquez SP — The Padres placed Marquez on the 15-day injured list Sunday due to right forearm nerve irritation.
- 15-Day-ILNick Pivetta SP — Padres manager Craig Stammen told reporters Wednesday that Pivetta was diagnosed with a right flexor strain, Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
- 15-Day-ILJoe Musgrove SP — Musgrove (elbow) remains limited to playing catch during his throwing program and hasn't yet been cleared for bullpen sessions, Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
- 60-Day-ILBryan Hoeing RP — The Padres placed Hoeing (elbow) on the 15-day injured list Wednesday.
- 60-Day-ILJhony Brito RP — Brito (forearm) has been throwing bullpens in Padres camp, per MLB.com.
- 10-Day-ILHarrison Bader CF — Bader (hamstring) will start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.
- 10-Day-ILDaniel Susac C — Susac (elbow) has begun a hitting program and is expected to resume throwing later this week, per MLB.com.
- 15-Day-ILErik Miller RP — Miller picked up the save Sunday against the Marlins. He allowed no hits or walks while striking out one over 1.1 perfect innings.
- 15-Day-ILSam Hentges RP — Hentges (knee/shoulder) struck out one in a scoreless inning during Triple-A Sacramento's 7-6 win over Tacoma on Wednesday.
- 60-Day-ILJared Oliva CF — Oliva underwent left hamate bone surgery Thursday in Los Angeles, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- 60-Day-ILJason Foley RP — Foley (shoulder) is throwing live batting practice Tuesday, Justice delos Santos of The San Jose Mercury News reports.
- 60-Day-ILJose Butto RP — Butto underwent surgery Saturday to repair an artery in his right arm, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.
- 60-Day-ILHayden Birdsong RP — Birdsong underwent successful UCL reconstruction surgery on his right elbow Wednesday, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The Giants get a partial reinforcement soon — Harrison Bader is starting a rehab assignment in Sacramento — but tonight the bullpen is still missing roughly half of its expected names (Miller, Foley, Hentges, Birdsong, Rodriguez, Wick, Butto). If Webb doesn't go deep, this gets ugly fast. Padres aren't much healthier on the mound, they're just not relying on the bullpen to win the game.
The market has the Giants as a modest home favorite at -127 with the total sitting on 7.5, and the sharp money on the spread side is leaning Padres +1.5 even at a steep -190. Translation: nobody really wants either of these teams to win outright, but the room thinks this stays close. Given both starters' issues and the state of San Francisco's pen, the under at Oracle is the line that requires the most faith. First pitch 8:45 PM ET.