Myers rallying; Renfroe continues to struggle

Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.

One of the Padres' biggest problems this season has been getting more than two or three hitters hot at the same time.

Eric Hosmer has been the constant, and even he had a very slow start. But since the first week of May, the first baseman's batting average has hovered between .280 and .300. He has 20 homers and 90 RBIs with 23 games to go in the season.

But most of the bats the Padres have counted on have been swinging on roller-coasters. Two cases to examine are those of outfielders Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe.

Myers has gotten warm recently. He is 6-for-11 in a five-game hitting streak with a double, two homers and five RBIs. On Wednesday night in Arizona, he hit his third pinch-hit home run of the season. But the recent modest streak has raised Myers’ season batting average to a disappointing .232 and comes on the heels of a 4-for-31 slump.

Still, Myers has a higher batting average than Renfroe, who has two homers and four RBIs since outfield mate Franmil Reyes was traded to Cleveland on July 30.

And since Aug. 10, Renfroe is 6-for-55 (.109) with two doubles, no homers and one RBI with 30 strikeouts -- dropping his batting average from .242 to .224.

Notes

• Left fielder Nick Martini is 6-for-18 with a double, an RBI and a run scored in four starts as a Padre. He has yet to draw a walk.

• Outfielder Josh Naylor is 11-for-32 (.344) in his past 10 games with three doubles, three RBIs and five runs scored to raise his batting average from .241 to .258.

• Second baseman Ty France is 5-for-19 in his past five games with three homers, seven RBIs and four runs scored.

• Shortstop Luis Urías has seven errors in his past 13 games while going 5-for-37 with two walks, no extra-base hits, an RBI and two runs scored.