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Padres kick off road trip against Phillies

Jun 10, 2014 - 2:47 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Diego Padres will head east to begin an eight- game road trip, starting with Tuesday's opener of a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

The Padres will also visit the New York Mets for three games before returning to the west coast for a two-game set with the Seattle Mariners.

San Diego has lost five of seven games and dropped two of three matchups with the Washington Nationals this weekend at Petco Park. In Sunday's 6-0 blanking, Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann struck out 12 and allowed only two hits in the shutout. Zimmerman had the 6-0 lead by the third inning.

Padres starter Eric Stults wasn't so sharp and allowed all six runs in just 2 1/3 innings.

"It was a tough hole to dig out of, especially with a guy like Zimmermann pitching the way he was," Padres manager Bud Black said.

Seth Smith tripled and Alexi Amarista had the other hit in defeat.

Ian Kennedy gets the start in Philadelphia tonight and he is 5-6 with a 3.39 earned run average. Kennedy has won three straight trips to the mound and tossed six innings of two-run ball in last Wednesday's 3-2 win over Pittsburgh.

Kennedy, a right-hander, has not allowed more than two runs in each of his last three appearances and is 3-1 in five road assignments. He has made five career starts against the Phillies, going 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA.

Meanwhile, the Phillies are back home after their unsuccessful road trip through Washington and Cincinnati, and have lost eight of nine games.

The Phillies dropped two of three against the Reds after a three-game sweep by the Nationals and suffered a 4-1 loss Sunday afternoon. Reds starter Homer Bailey struck out seven and allowed only a run in eight innings of work.

Phillies young starter David Buchanan was dealt the loss and permitted all four runs in six innings of work. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.

Chase Utley was credited with the lone RBI for the Phillies and Jimmy Rollins moved closer to passing Mike Schmidt for the most hits in team history, going 1-for-3 with a walk. Rollins needs five hits to pass Schmidt (2,234).

"Well, we still haven't had a hot streak," Phils manager Ryne Sandberg said. "I believe there is a hot streak in there. If we could put together two or three weeks or a month with a hot streak, we can chip away and get back."

Hoping to get the Phillies on a hot streak Tuesday will be A.J. Burnett. The right-hander will make his 14th start of the season and is 3-5 with a 4.41 ERA. Burnett is 0-2 in his past three appearances and 1-4 in his last five decisions. He was dealt the loss in last Wednesday's 8-4 defeat at Washington and yielded a season-high eight runs and 10 hits in six innings.

Burnett has given up at least three runs in each of the past six starts (29 total) and is 1-2 in six home starts. He has made nine career starts against the Padres, going 2-6 with a 4.25 ERA.

Philadelphia won four of six meetings with San Diego last season.