The San Diego Padres have found some momentum in their season coming off of two solid series including a sweep of the Atlanta Braves. However, the team's pitching remains a struggle and Odrisamer Despaigne is one of the contributors of that. After starting his MLB career in strong, Despaigne's last two starts have left a lot to be desired as he tries to regain form against the Minnesota Twins.
In his first five career starts, Despaigne went 2-1 with a 1.31 ERA. However, since then, he has failed to make headlines. Against Atlanta he gave up five runs in three innings and was then charged with six runs against the St. Louis Cardinals. The youngster must throw his best stuff against a Minnesota lineup that is operating on all cylinders right now. The Twins are batting .351 with 35 runs in four games. Prior to their first game with Minnesota, they tallied 49 hits in three previous games. Kennys Vargas got his first career home run while debuting going 6 for 18 with seven RBIs in his first four major league games.
The Twins will start Kevin Correia against the Padres. He is 5-13 with a 4.96 ERA this season while being tied for the most losses this season in the Major Leagues. Eric Stults of the Padres actually leads that category. Correia has had some solid pitching moments this season, but getting just 3.58 runs of support per game is not helping his record. In his last start against Kansas City, he gave up two runs in six innings. He was tagged for 11 runs and 18 hits in his two previous starts. Correia has had issues going deep into games, averaging four innings in his last few starts. The Twins are in need of a strong performance if they want to keep their win streak alive.
