Eduardo Rodriguez Bounce-Back Could Give D-backs Series Victory

The Diamondbacks have a chance to climb back in the race and get back to .500

Jul 4, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (57) pitches against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks have taken two out of the first three games at Petco Park against the Padres and will go for the series victory on Thursday night at 6:40 p.m.

If the D-backs can pull off the win, they'll get back to .500. They enter play Thursday night with a 46-47 record, 4.5 games out of the third NL Wild Card spot.

Time is starting to run out for them the team to give their general manager a reason to be an aggressive buyer before the July 31 trade deadline. The time to start making a move is now.

Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres Starting Pitcher Matchup

Eduardo Rodriguez and Randy Vasquez stats | Jack Sommers

Eduardo Rodriguez will be looking to bounce back from one of the worst starts of his career. On July 4 he gave up nine runs on 12 hits in four innings against the Royals. He managed to strike out seven, and didn't walk a batter. But he struggled with location in the zone and was hit hard.

Prior to that, Rodriguez had been on a nice run in June since coming off the injured list. He made five starts and posted a 1.98 ERA in 27.1 innings pitched.

Rodriguez has started against the Padres twice before, most recently on September 28, 2024 when he threw 4.2 shutout innings.

The D-backs did not score in that game and lost 5-0, which ended up putting them out of the playoffs.

Randy Vasquez is having a good season for the Padres. He's averaging just five innings per start, but has only given up more than three runs in three starts this year.

Vasquez was especially tough on the Diamondbacks in 2024. In three starts versus Arizona he pitched 19 innings and gave up only five runs. The last game he faced them was the September 28 game in which he threw six shutout innings, giving up just one hit.

Vasquez has a six-pitch mix, throwing a cutter, sinker, four-seam, sweeper, curveball, and changeup. Right-hand batters have not been able to touch the sinker or sweeper, batting .177 and .173 against those two pitches respectively.

Lineups

Last night in San Diego.

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— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 10, 2025

Bullpens

The Diamondbacks' starters have combined to throw 21 innings this series, leaving only five innings for the bullpen to pick up. Kevin Ginkel threw a scoreless inning on Wednesday, and John Curtiss pitched an inning on Tuesday. Nobody else has pitched the last two nights.

All of the Padres high-leverage relievers had Wednesday night off after throwing a lot of pitches on Tuesday. Mike Shildt should have most, if not all, of his positive role relievers if he needs them.