Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
The Padres extended their franchise record of homering in consecutive games to 19 on Thursday night when Yangervis Solarte connected in St. Louis.
And if they get a homer in Washington on Friday night they will tie the longest home run streak by a National League team since 2008, when the Milwaukee Brewers homered in 20 straight games.
San Diego's current record is five games longer than the club's previous mark of 14 straight games with a homer set in 1998.
The Padres have hit a total of 31 homers during their record streak dating back to June 28 (in the previous game, the Padres were shut out 3-0 by the Cincinnati Reds).
Second baseman Ryan Schimpf is the individual leader during the streak with seven. Third baseman Yangervis Solarte is second with six homers and outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. is third with five.
Right fielder Matt Kemp has four homers during the streak (in four straight games). First baseman Wil Myers has three and catcher Derek Norris has two. Adam Rosales, Christian Bethancourt, Alex Dickerson and Brett Wallace each have one home run.
Notes from the scorebook
--Yangervis Solarte leads the National League with 14 extra-base hits in July (eight doubles and six homers) with 16 RBIs and 11 runs scored. Since June 23, Solarte is hitting .348 (32-for-92) with 10 doubles, six home runs, 18 RBIs and 14 runs scored. Since June 23, Solarte has a .652 slugging percentage.
-- Ryan Schimpf is tied for second in the National League with 12 extra-base hits (four doubles, a triple, seven home runs) in July. Schimpf has 18 hits since joining the Padres on June 14 with all but four going for extra bases. Schimpf is 15-for-49 this month (.306) with 12 RBIs and 11 runs scored. He has also drawn six walks for a .382 on-base percentage to go with a .857 slugging percentage for a 1.239 OPS in July.
--Relief pitcher Carlos Villanueva, who suffered the loss Thursday night in St. Louis, has given up 15 runs on 19 hits, including four homers, and four walks over his last seven appearances covering 7 1/3 innings. That's a 18.42 ERA. Villanueva's ERA has shot up from 3.20 to 5.33.
--Left-handed reliever Brad Hand has not allowed a run in his last 10 outings. The run covers nine innings in which he has allowed three hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts.