• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Mariners-Padres Preview

Jun 13, 2010 - 5:41 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Seattle (23-38) at San Diego (36-25), 4:05 p.m. EDT

The San Diego Padres have used strong starting pitching to stifle the Seattle Mariners this year, beginning with a strong outing by Clayton Richard.

The Padres will send Richard to the mound Sunday when they try for their first three-game home sweep of the Mariners, who will counter with Felix Hernandez.

San Diego (37-25) and Seattle (23-39) have played every year since interleague play began in 1997, and the Padres have won four straight for the first time. The Mariners won 15-8 at home on May 21 before managing a total of six runs in the next four meetings.

Padres starters have gone at least six innings in all of the wins, with Wade LeBlanc allowing one run in six innings Saturday to outpitch Cliff Lee in a 7-1 victory that clinched the season series for San Diego for the first time since 2004.

Next in line for San Diego is Richard (4-3, 2.72 ERA), who is 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA in two career starts against the Mariners, including a 2-1 road win May 22 in which he yielded one run over seven innings.

"Richard pitched a great ball game," Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said.

The left-hander is 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA in three starts since going 4-0 with a 1.97 ERA in his previous five. He allowed one run over seven innings Tuesday in a 2-1, 11-inning loss to the New York Mets.

The Mariners have had problems containing Adrian Gonzalez, who is 9 for 20 with five RBIs against them this year. Gonzalez had two hits Saturday, including his 14th homer, and is batting .412 (21 for 51) with five homers, 15 RBIs and 11 runs scored in his last 13 games.

Gonzalez has the most experience of any Padres hitter against Hernandez (3-5, 3.77), going 7 for 24 with one homer. Hernandez fell to 2-2 with a 3.69 ERA in six career starts against San Diego after giving up three runs over seven innings in an 8-1 loss May 23.

The right-hander is still searching for his first road win after going 0-2 with a 3.59 ERA in his first seven outings. Hernandez allowed seven runs over six-plus innings in a 7-1 loss at Texas on Tuesday.

Mariners superstar Ichiro Suzuki is 9 for 23 against the Padres this season to extend his interleague hitting streak to 16 games. Suzuki had three hits Saturday to snap out of a 2-for-20 slump.

Seattle's latest losing streak is at five games, with its offense producing 10 runs. The Mariners matched a season high by stranding 12 runners Saturday.

"That's two nights in a row that we've had a pretty good starting pitching performance and our offense has squandered it," Wakamatsu said.

The Padres expect manager Bud Black to return to the dugout Sunday after missing the first two games of the series because of his daughter's graduation. Bench coach Ted Simmons filled in for Black.