Brewers face Padres’ Paddack amid playoff push

The San Diego Padres were eliminated from any semblance of playoff contention long ago. Even so, rookie Chris Paddack will get one more chance Tuesday night to impact the pennant race.

Paddack will make what is expected to be his final start as the visiting Padres face the surging Milwaukee Brewers in the second game of a four-game series.

Paddack (9-7, 3.38 ERA) is scheduled to oppose the Brewers’ Brandon Woodruff (11-3, 3.75 ERA) in a battle of right-handers.

The Brewers remained red-hot Monday night, when Cory Spangenberg collected three RBIs against his former team and Zach Davies combined with three relievers on a two-hitter in a 5-1 win over the Padres, who dropped their fifth straight. The win was the 10th in the last 11 games for the Brewers (81-69), who remained one game behind the Chicago Cubs in the race for the second National League wild card and three games back of the first-place St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central.

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The Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 while the Cardinals edged the Washington Nationals 4-2.

While the Padres (68-82) hope Paddack gets a taste of a postseason environment, the Brewers will be looking to see if Woodruff can help them complete their playoff push and perhaps aid them in the postseason.

It will be Woodruff’s first start since July 21, when he sustained a strained left oblique while pitching against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Woodruff would be more of an opener on Tuesday, though he didn’t reveal a pitch limit. Woodruff eventually will give way to Gio Gonzalez, who hasn’t pitched in relief since he was a rookie in 2009.

“If you lay it out, probably three outings is what we can get from him (in the regular season),” Counsell told reporters Monday regarding Woodruff. “There’s an ideal scenario how those outings would go. If that happens, we may be able to build him up a little bit.”

Paddack has never faced the Brewers. Woodruff is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in two games (one start) against the Padres.

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