Padres Rotate DH Position as Series Against Nationals Continues

San Diego, California — The San Diego Padres are rotating the designated hitter spot among their regular players as they navigate through 13 straight games in the second half of the season. On Sunday morning, Xander Bogaerts will take a half-day off from the field during the Padres’ 10:35 a.m. game, which will be broadcast on Padres.TV.

Manny Machado also had a similar half-day off on Saturday, as Trenton Brooks stepped in to start at DH for the series against the Washington Nationals. The lack of a dedicated DH has impacted the team’s offensive productivity, as they are currently second worst in the majors with a .568 OPS from their designated hitters, trailing only the Texas Rangers at .514. The Kansas City Royals also fall below the .600 OPS mark, sitting at .590.

Leading the Padres in DH production is Luis Arraez with a .767 OPS, while Gavin Sheets follows closely with a .670. Bogaerts has struggled with a .596 OPS this season. Sheets has logged the most plate appearances as a DH, totaling 165, while Arraez has 66 and Machado has 43. Brooks has made 29 appearances in the role. With Bogaerts at DH, Jose Iglesias will start at shortstop, batting seventh.

This match will feature Bogaerts hitting in the cleanup spot for the 20th time against left-hander MacKenzie Gore. Despite going 0-for-4 with a strikeout last Friday, Bogaerts has performed well in recent games, hitting .361 with an OPS of .927 over the last 17 games.

On the mound for the Padres is right-hand pitcher Nick Pivetta, who boasts a strong record of 9-2 with a 2.88 ERA this season. Pivetta has seen success in his recent outings, featuring a streak of four consecutive starts allowing one run or fewer. He previously struck out ten Nationals over seven shutout innings on June 25.

For the Nationals, LHP MacKenzie Gore enters the game with a record of 4-8 and a 3.02 ERA. He has recorded 138 strikeouts across 110⅓ innings this season and had a strong outing against the Padres in June, where he pitched six innings and only allowed one run.