Pittsburgh at San Diego

Randy Vasquez has been the best story in San Diego's rotation this month, and Craig Stammen said as much this week, calling him a pitcher on a mission to prove he belongs in the rotation. Vasquez takes a 9-6 record and a 4.19 ERA into a spot the Padres need badly: they have dropped the first two games of this series to Pittsburgh, including a 1-0 gut-punch on Tuesday, and they are clinging to a one-game edge for the final NL Wild Card spot. Bubba Chandler has been outstanding for the Pirates since mid-July, working with a sub-3.00 ERA over that stretch, but Pittsburgh's offense, not its pitching, has been the story of this series. The Pirates are hitting .213 as a team over their last ten games and needed a ninth-inning homer from Oneil Cruz just to escape with that 1-0 win on Tuesday. San Diego gets a desperate home lineup, a pitcher working to lock down his rotation spot, and an opponent that has to keep grinding out zeros to win. This is the kind of spot the Padres have found their way through all August. I am on the Padres.