5 things to watch as the Yankees face the Padres in a three-game series in San Diego

Here are five things to watch out for while Yankees and San Diego Padres play a three-game series at Petco Park starting Friday…

Can the Yankees start the trip properly?

The weekend series with the Padres begins a nine-game West Coast road trip for the Yankees. They went 5-2 in their most recent homeland. At 35-17 and just a 3.0 game lead over the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East, the Yanks need to start strong if they want to return to the Bronx still in first place.

After three with the Padres, the Yankees have three against the Los Angeles Angels (20-30), which shouldn’t be too bad, but then they go to San Francisco to face the Giants (25-26). Getting at least six wins in 10 days should be the goal of this trip.

Can beginners continue?

Perhaps the biggest surprise of this young season has been how well the Yankees rotation has pitched without ace Gerrit Cole.

This week alone, starters have thrown 23.2 innings and given up just three runs on 11 hits in their four-game series against the Seattle Mariners. These numbers go back even further, where the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins dominated last week.

But can they continue?

New York will have Carlos Rodon (3.27 ERA), Marcus Stroman (3.05 ERA) and Clark Schmidt (2.59 ERA) up this weekend. All three have been effective lately, so we’ll see if they can continue that trend.

Facing some tough pitches

While the Yankees’ starters have been tough, so have many of the Padres’ rotation arms. The Yanks will face Yu Darvish (2.08 ERA) on Friday, Dylan Cease (3.05 ERA) on Saturday and the recently returned Joe Musgrove (5.93 ERA) on Sunday.

If the Yankees want to keep winning, they will have to hit like they have to support their pitching, but it could be difficult. Here’s how the top Yanks fared against the likely starters Padres:

• Aaron Judge: 5 for 15, 2 2B, 4 RBI

• João Soto: 7 for 16, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 RBI

• Giancarlo Stanton: 5-for-16, 2 HR (both vs. Cease), 5 RBI

• Alex Verdugo: 6 for 22, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 RBI

Not bad, but the first series of a long road trip could take the Yankees bats out of the game.

Will Clarke Schmidt be able to recover?

Schmidt was the starter who didn’t have his best this week. In Tuesday’s loss to the Mariners, Schmidt gave up two runs but had to go five innings. After the game, Schmidt felt he was getting his shots off balance.

Before that start, Schmidt had pitched 14.2 shutout innings in his previous two starts. He took a step forward in his second year as part of the rotation and will look to continue that trend in San Diego.

So far this season, Schmidt is shooting better on the road. He has a 1.47 ERA in five road starts, as opposed to a 3.96 ERA in the Bronx.

Juan Soto returns to San Diego

This will be Soto’s first time facing the Padres in San Diego after the Yankees acquired him in a trade this offseason.

In his two seasons with the Padres, Soto slashed .265/.405/.488 with 41 home runs and walked 176 times.

It will be interesting to see the reception Soto gets in San Diego and how he plays returning to Petco.