Oakland at San Diego

The Padres are glad to be back home after a long road trip in which they won five of 10 games. San Diego has won four of its last five home games and six of its last seven following a loss. Oakland has lost seven of its last nine games versus left-handed starters and 56 of its last 76 road games against southpaw starters dating to last season. Paul Blackburn got lit up his last outing giving up eight runs on eight hits in just 1 1/3 innings against Houston.  This will be only his third start of the season. Eric Lauer has given the Padres a solid five innings his last three starts while allowing six runs in 15 innings with 12 strikeouts. The Athletics will be seeing the left-hander for the first time. Surprisingly, San Diego is only seven games out of first place in the NL West as its rebuilding project is starting to produce. Play the Padres.