Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
Much has been made of Jhoulys Chacin's success at Petco Park this season. And Chacin has been great at home.
With seven shutout innings at Petco Park on Tuesday night, the right-hander brought his home record to 7-2 and lowered his home ERA to a Major League-leading 1.86 (16 earned runs in 77 1/3 innings).
But Chacin is just hot period. Since June 9, he is 7-2 with a 2.30 ERA in 10 starts. The Padres are 8-2 in those starts and they have won six straight games that Chacin has started. He is 5-0 with a 2.02 ERA in those starts.
Additionally, Chacin allowed 16 runs on 44 hits and 22 walks with 48 strikeouts in 62 2/3 innings. He has failed to go at least six full innings in only two of those 10 starts and had eight quality starts. Actually beyond quality. He allowed three runs in only one of those 10 outings.
During the 10-start run, Chacin has lowered his ERA from 5.65 to 3.99.
San Diego is 13-9 in 22 games started by Chacin this season.
Chacin allowed three hits over his seven scoreless innings Tuesday night.
Among pitchers with at least 13 career starts at Petco Park, Chacin's career ERA of 2.14 at the downtown ballpark is No. 1. So is his career opponents' batting average of .1945288. That is No. 1 among any pitcher with 13 or more career starts at Petco Park, just ahead of Timothy Lincecum's mark of .19512.
Noteworthy
Left-hander Brad Hand
Hand recorded his seventh save of the season Tuesday night -- and his fifth in as many attempts since taking over as the Padres' closer on July 22. Hand has not allowed a run over 20 1/3 innings in 20 appearances since June 14. He has allowed 13 hits with two walks and 26 strikeouts during the run (with at least one strikeout in each of his past 12 outings).
The streak of 20 1/3 straight scoreless innings -- during which Hand has lowered his ERA from 3.12 to 1.96 -- is the longest by a Padres reliever since Fernando Rodney worked 22 straight scoreless innings last season. Speaking of Hand, if the Padres are looking toward 2019 or '20 to make a challenge, why not keep the durable left-handed reliever? They control him for 2 1/2 more seasons and could likely move to extend him to a point when they feel they'll be in position to challenge.
Right-hander Kirby Yates
Yates' ERA as a Padre is 1.73. With a perfect eighth inning Tuesday night, he has now allowed one run on five hits and a walk with 21 strikeouts over 13 1/3 innings in his past 17 appearances. Yates has at least one strikeout in each of his past nine appearances.
Right fielder Hunter Renfroe
Renfroe was 2-for-4 Tuesday with two runs scored. He is 4-for-10 with a four-game hitting streak and 11-for-41 with three doubles, four homers, nine runs scored and six RBIs while hitting safely in nine of 10 starts since returning from the disabled list (stiff neck) July 20.