The Diamondbacks will begin a four-game set against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park tonight. First pitch is at 6:40 PM Arizona time.
Arizona will send young right-hander Slade Cecconi to the mound. Cecconi is a curious case in the young--and injured--rotation, as he's pitched to excellent success early in games, before sputtering out and seeing his velocity decline drastically as he went deeper. The Padres have also been bit by injury as a whole, and their rotation is similarly banged up as reliable starters in Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove have both hit the IL. Young right-hander Randy Vasquez will get the start tonight.
Smith is slashing an impressive .294/.327/.569 , and has homered in two straight games, one being a pinch-hit walk-off blast to defeat the Giants, and the other being a laser off San Francisco righty Sean Hjelle to pull within three in yesterday's game.