Padres pregame: A day off for Jake Cronenworth as Friars seek series win over Dodgers

Jake Cronenworth went hitless in Friday’s win, snapping a team-best, 12-game hitting streak. With a left-hander on the mound on Saturday and Manny Machado serving as the designated hitter, Cronenworth is out of the lineup to start Game 2 of this series against the Dodgers.

First pitch is at 5:40 p.m.

In fact, the Padres have just one left-hander in the lineup — Luis Arraez getting his first start at first base as a Padre — as they’re stacking their lineup with right-handed variables.

Switch-hitting Jurickson Profar is taking Cronenworth’s place in the three-hole, Donovan Solano is starting at third base and batting sixth and Jose Azocar is batting eighth as the center fielder.

Machado still requiring regular DH duty continues to require such shuffling.

That won’t (hopefully) always be the case.

“Clearly guys are going to be wanting to be in the lineup,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “There’s going to be an odd man out occasionally. But man, way rather have that opportunity than trying to figure out who’s going where. It will be something that we continue to work on, be match-up based, similar like it is today and be communicative on how guys are feeling.

“And guys are maybe going to get more of a blow … than they want, but it will keep them fresh over the long haul.”

To be clear, Machado returning as a full-time fielder does not appear imminent. He only returned to playing third base on April 26 and has played back-to-back days in the field three times, with the most recent back-to-back sandwiched around an off-day.

The Padres’ best defensive lineup will find Machado at third base, Cronenworth at first, Xander Bogaerts at second and Ha-Seong Kim at shortstop, which likely makes Arraez the regular DH when everyone is healthy.

For now, the Padres are just beginning to see what Arraez can do in the field as Saturday is just his second at a position. He played second base on May 5.

Cronenworth last had a day off on April 27, also with a left-hander on the mound. He is hitting .171/.237/.200 so far against lefties, well below his career numbers (.238/.316/.372).

Here is the Dodgers’ lineup:

Dodgers LHP James Paxton (4-0, 3.06 ERA)

Although the Dodgers have won five of his six starts, the 35-year-old leads the majors with 24 walks in 32⅓ innings and he’s pitching to a 5.46 FIP (fielding independent pitching). The one loss was walking eight batters in five innings of three-run ball to the Padres last month.

Here is how Paxton has fared against current Padres:

(Baseball-reference.com)

Padres RHP Matt Waldron (1-4, 5.82 ERA)

The knuckleballer has a 7.78 ERA over his last four starts (19 ⅔ innings), including allowing a season-high eight runs in three innings in his last start in Ariza. Waldron limited the Dodgers to a run in five innings last month at Dodger Stadium, although he acknowledged the challenge is different now that they’ve seen his knuckleball

“They’re gonna look at how I got them out,” he said while discussing what he worked on between starts (read that story here). “They’re gonna want to make their approach changes. … I’m just gonna have to pitch to my strengths. … It’s the same team I’ve faced. They’re very good and I’m going to have to be on my A game.”

Here is how current Dodgers have fared against the knuckleballer:

(Baseball-reference.com)