Miguel

Andujar

Andujar is sitting out his third consecutive contest with a lingering hamstring issue. There’s been zero indication that he’ll require a trip to the injured list, but that could change prior to Friday’s series opener against the Orioles.

No real surprise here with Andujar battling a hamstring issue that surfaced over the weekend. It’ll be Will Wagner taking over at DH in his absence.

Padres manager Craig Stammen told reporters there’s a chance Andujar is available off the bench, which seemingly signals that a trip to the injured list is off the table. The 31-year-old was lifted from Sunday’s game with hamstring tightness. It’ll be Gavin Sheets handling DH on Monday night in his absence.

If Andujar can’t go on Monday, maybe the Padres will stick the streaking Freddy Fermin in the DH spot.

Andujar is in a 3-for-27 skid that’s seen him go without an RBI in his last seven games. He’ll probably continue to start for the most part, but he’s not a No. 2 hitter. Even though he’s batting .267 this season, his OBP is just .293.

Andujar homered with one out in the bottom of the first, and the lead held up for the rest of the game. It was his second straight start batting second. It’s an odd fit for such an aggressive hitter, but since he’s hot right now, the Padres might as well lean into it. Andujar is batting .298/.319/.504 in 135 plate appearances. Nothing much suggests he’ll keep slugging like this, but he’ll be a lineup fixture for San Diego until he cools off.

Fernando Tatis Jr. moves from second to first, and Miguel Andujar, who hit sixth last night, is in the second spot. Merrill has gone hitless in four straight games to fall to .205/.275/.325 for the season. He had led off in each of his last 10 starts, and this is the first time all season that he’s hit lower than fourth.

Andujar was 1-for-15 in his previous four games, but he’s hitting a fine .292/.318/.491 overall. It’s just not ideal that most of his production is coming against righties, when the Padres need him more versus lefties, but at least it’s helping him stay in the lineup over Ty France and Nick Castellanos.

Miguel Andujar also hit his first homer today and still has 330 points of OPS on Castellanos (.830 to .493), so we’re not sure this is going to help much with playing time. Castellanos has started three of the Padres’ last 10 games, compared to seven for Andujar and five for Ty France. It still wouldn’t be much of a surprise if Castellanos is off the San Diego roster by Memorial Day.

Machado was removed from Monday’s game with a calf injury and sat out on Tuesday, but he’ll be right back out there on Wednesday. Miguel Andujar will play third again, while Nick Castellanos will start in left field and bat eighth, with Ramon Laureano getting a day off.