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Padres' Despaigne hopes to bounce back against D-backs

Aug 22, 2014 - 2:49 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Odrisamer Despaigne tries to bounce back from a shaky showing his last time out when the San Diego Padres open a three-game series versus the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Despaigne was hit hard in St. Louis on Sunday, as he allowed five runs and six hits in just four innings to fall to 3-4 on the year to go along with a 3.28 ERA.

After pitching to a 1.31 ERA in his first five outings, the Cuban right-hander has gone 1-3 with a 5.88 in five since.

"He just couldn't finish off any hitters," manager Bud Black said after the loss to the Cardinals. "He couldn't get any of his pitches where he needed to get them."

Despaigne beat the Diamondbacks in his second big league start, holding them to a run over 6 2/3 innings.

San Diego comes into this series having dropped three of four after a 2-1 loss to Los Angeles on Thursday.

Tyson Ross (11-12) was charged with two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts in the tough-luck loss as he did an admirable job dueling Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.

"It was a great pitching duel," said Black. "We talked about it prior to the game and it certainly lived up to the billing."

Arizona, meanwhile, has lost six in a row after getting swept by the Washington Nationals. Two of the three losses in Washington, though, came in walk-off fashion, including Thursday's 1-0 setback.

After pinch-hitter Scott Hairston flied out to start the frame for the Nats, Denard Span blooped a single into center off of Oliver Perez (2-3). Evan Marshall took over on the mound and Span swiped second to move into scoring position. Anthony Rendon hit a grounder to third that Jordan Pacheco fielded easily, but his throw came up short of first base and bounced past Mark Trumbo and out of play, allowing Span to score the winning run.

"I should've charged the ball," said Pacheco. "I found myself back too far and I had to rush the throw a little bit and obviously I made a bad throw."

Arizona has now dropped nine of its last 11.

Hoping to reverse that trend on Friday will be righty Josh Collmenter, who is 8-7 with a 4.31 ERA. Collmenter lost his second straight start on Sunday in Miami, as he was tagged for five runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Collmenter beat San Diego back on June 28 and is 3-3 lifetime against them with a 3.65 ERA in 13 games (4 starts).

Arizona has won six of its nine matchups with the Padres this season.