The Nationals came home Friday after a 4-2 road trip and opened a series against the Padres, who arrived in Washington on a four-game losing streak. San Diego still held a playoff spot, but the slump had turned a routine late-season series into a test of whether the Padres could steady themselves before the gap widened.
Washington had reason to feel better about itself, even after a 3-2 loss to Cleveland on Thursday kept it from sweeping the series. The Nationals pushed a run across in the ninth inning and got the tying run to second base before the final out, a small but telling sign that the lineup had not gone quiet after the road trip.
The matchup also mattered because the Padres’ rotation was still being sorted out. Paxton Schultz was set to open for Washington before handing things off to Andrew Alvarez, and Schultz was making his first opener appearance of the year after allowing one run in 8 1/3 innings in May outside of a six-run outing against the Mets. San Diego planned to counter with King, who had a 2.76 ERA in 11 starts even after allowing four runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Athletics in his last outing.
For the Padres, the skid sat awkwardly beside the standings. Gavin Sheets and Miguel Andujar had been the team’s best regulars this season, while Jackson Merrill had regressed in his junior campaign. Manny Machado was being described as caught by Father Time, and Fernando Tatis Jr. had gone 54 games without homering. Nasim Nunez had also not homered, leaving the club leaning harder on a bullpen that had carried more of the load than the lineup.
That relief corps was still one of the best in the sport. San Diego’s bullpen owned a 3.07 ERA, second in baseball behind the Dodgers, and Mason Miller’s sub-1 ERA gave it another late-inning weapon. Lucas Giolito, who signed a one-year deal with the Padres in April, also fit the picture after throwing five scoreless innings against the Athletics in his last start.
Washington’s pitching plan remained unfinished beyond the opener, which kept the series from settling into a clean script. The Nationals had not announced their Saturday starter, though Foster Griffin was expected to take the ball after six scoreless innings in Atlanta and a win following back-to-back rough starts. On Sunday, Griffin Canning was scheduled to start for San Diego, carrying a 7.54 ERA and a history of allowing six runs in two of his five starts this year, while the Nationals had not announced a Sunday starter and Zack Littell was expected to take his turn after seven innings of one-run ball in Cleveland in his last appearance.
The broader stakes were plain enough: Washington had a chance to build on a good road trip, and San Diego needed to stop the slide before a playoff position turned into something less secure. With the first game set around Schultz’s opener and the rest of the rotation still in motion, the series began with more questions than answers — and for the Padres, the first answer had to come quickly.
