Padres pregame: Gavin Sheets moves up in order; Fernando Tatis Jr. streaking

The Padres seems to be giving their most productive hitter a run in the two-hole.

Gavin Sheets will bat second for a second straight game on Saturday in Washington. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. on Padres.TV.

Sheets is tied with Manny Machado for the team lead with nine homers, leads the team's qualifiers with an .835 OPS and is third with 23 RBIs.

It will be Sheets 29th start in the two-hole, where he is a .174/.256/.248 hitter. He made his first start of the season there on Friday, five starts there last year and 12 in 2024.

Sheets was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in the opener in Washington.

Sheets will also start a second straight game in left field despite the Nationals starting a left-hander in Foster Griffin. That makes Fernando Tatis Jr. (.652 OPS) the second baseman for a 13th straight game and Ramón Laureano (.667 OPS) the right fielder for a second day in a row and Ty France (.855 OPS) the first baseman.

Miguel Andujar (.743 OPS) will serve as the DH and bat third, followed by Machado (.605 OPS), center fielder Jackson Merrill (.606OPS) and shortstop Xander Bogaerts (.666 OPS).

France will bat seventh, followed by Laureano and Rodolfo Durán (.500 OPS) behind the late with right-hander Michael King.

Tatis is hitting .378/.462/.400 during a 12-game on-base streak in which he has one extra-base hit, a double. He has multiple hits in four of his last five games (1.191 OPS).

Merrill's home run on Friday was his first since May 4. He'd been in an .091/.194/.127 funk over 16 games before a two-hit game on Wednesday.

Friday's win kept the Padres (32-24) within 4 ½ games of the Dodgers (37-20) in the NL West and in sole possession of the NL's top wild-card spot as Arizona (31-25) lost in Seattle.

Here is how the Nationals (29-29, 3rd in NL East) will line up for Game 2:

Saturday’s pitching matchup

Padres RHP Michael King (4-3, 2.76 ERA)

He'd posted a 2.08 ERA over eight starts before allowing the A's four runs on five hits and four walks in 3 ⅔ innings on Sunday. King has been nearly as good on the road (2.86 ERA) as at home so far this season (2.67 ERA). His only start against the Nationals was in 2023 with the Yankees, when he allowed an unearned run in 2⅔ innings.

King only has history with two current Nationals:

• SS CJ Abrams (0-for-2, K)
• INF Jorbit Vivas (0-for-2)

Nationals LHP Foster Griffin (6-2, 3.63 ERA)

The 30-year-old former first-rounder has a 60-to-19 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 62 innings after spending the previous three years in Japan (2.57 ERA). A high-80s cutter is the most oft-used offering from a seven-pitch mix, while Griffin is sitting 91. 4 mph with his four-seamer. Griffin did not face the Padres before his sojourn to Japan.

Only Ramón Laureano, with a walk in his lone plate appearance, has history with Griffin.

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