Padres face tough task in Greinke, Diamondbacks

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Padres are 105 games into the season and have yet to face division-rival Arizona at Petco Park.

That changes Friday night in the opener of a three-game series that will see the Padres have one eye on the events on the field and one eye on the events in Cooperstown, N.Y., where former Padres closer Trevor Hoffman will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.

The Padres might have more to cheer for on the far side of the country if the trends of 2018 continue.

Take Friday night's series opener, for example. The Diamondbacks will be starting right-hander Zack Greinke, who is 11-5 on the season with a 3.05 ERA and is even tougher against the Padres.

But that's not the biggest hurdle facing the hosts.

The Padres are 7-26 in the opening games of series this season and have won only one of their previous series openers at Petco Park, which helps explain the Padres' 20-31 home record this season.

And while the Padres have struggled at home, the Diamondbacks have thrived on the road with a 29-23 record.

Now the Diamondbacks come to San Diego on Friday for the first of nine games they will play at Petco Park between now and the end of the season. After this series -- which ends Sunday afternoon after Hoffman's Hall of Fame induction speech is shown on the video board at Petco Park -- the Diamondbacks will return to Petco Park for three games Aug. 17-19, then end the season in San Diego on Sept. 28-30.

These could be very important games for the Diamondbacks, who enter this series trailing the first-place Dodgers by 1 1/2 games in the National League West.

The Padres are 3-4 against Arizona this season.

Greinke will be facing the Padres for the first time this season. But the 34-year-old has a 10-2 career record against the Padres in 20 starts with a 2.14 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and a .200 opponents' batting average. Greinke has 127 strikeouts in 130 1/3 career innings against the Padres.

Greinke has been even better against the Padres at Petco Park, where he has a 4-2 record and a 1.82 ERA in 11 starts. The Padres are hitting only .189 against Greinke at Petco Park, where the pitcher has a 0.91 WHIP.

In his only start against San Diego this season, Grienke allowed two runs on six hits and three walks over 4 1/3 innings on July 8, but he did not get a decision in the Padres' 4-3 victory.

Greinke will be paired against fellow right-hander Luis Perdomo on Friday night.

Perdomo, 25, is 1-5 with a 6.99 ERA -- 0-3, 6.17 since returning from Triple-A El Paso on July 4. Overall, the Padres are 1-7 in the eight games Perdomo has started. He is coming off a decent start, though. In the second game of Sunday's doubleheader in Philadelphia, Perdomo allowed three runs, five hits and a walk with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

Perdomo has a 4-4 lifetime record against the Diamondbacks with a 5.15 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 11 games (seven starts). The Diamondbacks have a .277 career batting average against Perdomo.