Lefty Eric Stults goes for a third win in his last five starts on Wednesday night when the San Diego Padres host the Seattle Mariners to begin a two-game interleague set at Petco Field.
The 33-year-old Indiana native has alternated wins and losses across eight decisions and 10 starts in 2013, most recently dropping a 5-2 verdict at Arizona on May 24.
In that game, the former draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers (15th round, 2002) allowed four runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings of work.
His last came six days earlier, when he scattered four hits in eight innings while allowing a single run in a 2-1 home defeat of the Washington Nationals.
Stults is 2-1 in four outings in San Diego.
He has never faced the Mariners.
For Seattle, lefty Joe Saunders aims to snap a brief two-game winless skid.
The former first-round pick of the Anaheim Angels (12th overall, 2002) defeated Oakland, 6-1, on May 12 after allowing five hits in 6 1/3 innings.
He's 0-1 in two outings since, including a 9-5 loss to Texas in which he was touched for six runs on eight hits in five innings.
Saunders will be seeking his first road win of 2013 as well. He's 0-4 in five starts away from home with a bloated 11.25 earned run average in 24 innings.
He is 5-3 in nine career starts against San Diego.
On Tuesday, Edinson Volquez hurled 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball to guide the Padres to a 6-1 win over the Mariners at Safeco Field.
Volquez (4-5) gave up four hits and walked three while striking out five to pick up his first win since May 5.
Jedd Gyorko hit a two-run homer and scored twice and Mark Kotsay drove in a pair for the Padres, who had dropped five of their last six games entering the contest.
Jesus Sucre's sacrifice fly in the second inning provided the lone run for the Mariners, losers in nine of their last 11 games.
Brandon Maurer (2-7) was tagged for six runs -- five earned -- on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings to absorb the loss.
San Diego won five of six games with the Mariners in 2012, while Seattle did the same - winning five of six - to take the season series in 2011.
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