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Blue Jays-Padres Preview

Jun 16, 2010 - 6:25 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Toronto (35-30) at San Diego (37-27), 6:35 p.m. EDT

Although power isn't one of his strengths, Aaron Cunningham put on quite a hitting display in his first start for the San Diego Padres.

Cunningham looks to build on an exceptional outing and help the Padres take two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays in Wednesday's series finale at Petco Park.

San Diego (38-27) called up Cunningham from Triple-A Portland on Friday after Matt Stairs went on the disabled list. After being used as a pinch hitter in his first two games, Cunningham started in right field Tuesday and became the first player to get a grand slam for his first hit as a Padre, helping lead San Diego to an 8-2 win over the Blue Jays.

"I would have been happy with a single or just getting on base, a walk or whatever I could do to help the team," said Cunningham, who doubled in his next at-bat. "It just turned out to be the best possible scenario."

Despite the impressive outing, hitting home runs might not be a regular occurrence for Cunningham.

The 24-year-old, who hit two homers in 55 games over the previous two seasons with Oakland, had four home runs in 53 games for the Beavers this year.

Although not to be expected, any home runs from Cunningham would be appreciated by San Diego. The Padres have the sixth-fewest homers in the majors with 48, and other than Adrian Gonzalez (15), no player on the team has more than seven.

Toronto (35-31) leads the majors with 101 home runs, but its high-powered offense is suddenly struggling.

The Blue Jays have lost seven of nine with the offense hitting only five homers after totaling 96 in their first 57 contests.

Jose Bautista is in the middle of this slump, going 2 for 36 with two singles and no RBIs in his last 10 games. Bautista, second in the majors with 18 home runs, was batting .345 with 11 homers and 22 RBIs in his previous 19 contests.

Breaking out of this power slump could prove to be difficult against San Diego's scheduled starter Kevin Correia (5-4, 4.98 ERA), who has yielded four homers in 59 innings over his last 11 starts.

The Padres have won each of Correia's last four outings with the right-hander going 1-0 with a 5.95 ERA. Against Seattle on Friday, Correia gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings of a 4-3 win, but he didn't get a decision.

Although he had a shaky performance against the Mariners, Correia has historically pitched well versus the AL, going 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA in his last five interleague starts.

This will be Correia's first career start against the Blue Jays after making two relief appearances against them in 2007.

Toronto counters with Ricky Romero (5-3, 3.29), who allowed four runs and seven hits - including two homers - in five innings of Friday's 5-3 loss to Colorado. The left-hander had yielded two home runs in 55 1-3 innings over his previous eight starts, going 4-1 with a 3.74 ERA.

Romero, 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA in four interleague starts, will make his first career appearance against the Padres.