Padres pregame: Alek Jacob optioned to make room for Matt Waldron

Alek Jacobdid his job on Wednesday, throwing two scoreless innings to earn the win in a come-from-behind victory. Now, his job is to return to Triple-A El Paso as the Padres are optioning him out to make room for knuckleballer Matt Waldron to start the opener of a three-game series in Anaheim.

Friday's first pitch is at 6:38 p.m., with the Padres looking to extend their winning streak to nine games, their longest since May 14-23 in 2021.

Jacob struck out three and allowed one hit, one walk and a hit batter in his first big-league appearance of the season. He started the season in the minors, allowing just an unearned run over 7 ⅓ innings with El Paso until he was brought up as short-term bullpen coverage after Nick Pivetta hit the injured list on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Jacob has a 3.91 ERA in 53 career innings in the majors. Part of the team's up-and-down depth, Jacob can be recalled and optioned back to the minors for more times.

Jacob will have one option year left after this season.

A day after repeating a lineup for the first time this season, Padres manager Craig Stammen has penciled in a new iteration for Game 1 against the Angels.

Ramón Laureano will sit as Jake Cronenworth gets his fifth start atop the order. Cronenworth (.459 OPS) was hitless in four straight games before getting an infield single in four at-bats on Thursday. Cronenworth is hitting .148/.246/.213 in a slow start to the season.

Laureano, Stammen said, is the team's leadoff hitter but he'll get a day off after starting the last six games in left field.

Fernando Tatis Jr. (.642 OPS) will bat second, followed by center fielder Jackson Merrill (.782 OPS) and shortstop Xander Bogaerts (.748 OPS). Gavin Sheets (.774 OPS) will make just his second start in left field and bat sixth, followed by designated hitter Nick Castellanos (.494 OPS), first baseman Ty France (.788 OPS) and catcher Luis Campusano (.885 OPS), a familiar batterymate of Waldron's last year at Triple-A El Paso.

Here is how the Angels will line up for Game 1:

Friday’s pitching matchup

Padres RHP Matt Waldron (2026 debut)

The knuckleballer threw 12 scoreless innings across three rehab starts, striking out 12 against one walk. He has a 4.86 ERA in 192⅔ innings in the majors, but he made just one start last year (4⅔ IP, 4 ER). Waldron faced the Angels in 2024, striking out four over 6 ⅓ innings of one-run ball in a no-decision. He is taking the injured Nick Pivetta’s spot in the rotation.

Five Angels have history with Waldron:

• C Travis d'Arnaud (1-for-5, RBI, 2 Ks)
• 1B Nolan Schanuel (0-for-3, 2 Ks)
• OF Jo Adell (0-for-2)
• SS Zach Neto (0-for-2)
• C Logan O'Hoppe (0-for-2)

Angels RHP Jose Soriano (4-0, 0.33 ERA)

The 27-year-old is enjoying a breakout in his fourth year in the majors, as he has struck out 31 against nine walks in 27 innings and leads the majors with an 0.667 WHIP, 3.0 hits per nine innings and a 1299 ERA+. He's gone at least six innings in all four starts. Soriano has a 1.29 ERA in 14 career innings against the Padres. He allowed two unearned runs in seven innings in a no-decision last year.

Here is how Soriano has fared against current Padres:

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 3:54 PM.