Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.

Twenty-two year-old Pedro Avila will become the third rookie pitcher to start a game for the Padres this season when he makes his Major League debut tonight against the D-backs at Chase Field.

And like Chris Paddack and Nick Margevicius, the right-handed Avila makes his Major League debut without making a start higher than Double-A. The 5-foot-11 Avila, a native of Venezuela, is the youngest of the trio.

Avila will have a tough act to follow.

In their combined first five starts, Margevicius and Paddack allowed five runs (four earned) on 12 hits and six walks with 23 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings for a 1.46 ERA and a 0.730 WHIP.

The 23-year-old Paddack, who has been pushed back a day and will make his third start on Friday, has allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and five walks with 11 strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings for a 1.04 ERA.

Margevicius, 22, who split last season between low and high Class A, has allowed three runs on nine hits, three walks and two hit batters with 12 strikeouts in 16 innings. He made his third start on Wednesday afternoon against the Giants at Oracle Park and he picked up his first Major League win and hit.

Avila, who was acquired from the Nationals in a December 2016 trade for catcher Derek Norris, made one start for Double-A Amarillo on April 6, allowing a run on two hits and five walks in six innings. He pitched all of the 2018 season at Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore, where he had a 4.27 ERA.

When the D-backs visited the Padres April 1-3, they scored nine runs on 21 hits in 10 2/3 innings against three straight left-handed starters – Matt Strahm, Eric Lauer and Joey Lucchesi.

Padres manager Andy Green, who went into that series saying the D-backs’ lineup was structured for success against left-handed pitchers, will open this series with right-handers Avila and Paddack before going to Strahm and Lauer.

Worth noting

• The Padres are 6-1 in day games this season. Last year, they were 19-28 in day games.

• San Diego is 8-5 after 13 games and entered Thursday's contest a half-game ahead of the Dodgers for first place in the National League West. The last time the Padres were in first this deep into a season was April 23, 2015.

• Manny Machado on Wednesday afternoon became only the 14th visiting, right-handed hitter (who had never played for the Giants) over the past five seasons to hit an opposite-field homer at formerly AT&T, now Oracle Park.

• Manuel Margot, who is the Padres’ only regular center fielder with Franchy Cordero on the 10-day injured list, is 7-for-19 with two RBIs in a seven-game winning streak.

• Right-hander Kirby Yates is the first Padres pitcher to have seven saves after 13 games to open a season. Yates has allowed one run on five hits and three walks in eight innings over eight appearances with 12 strikeouts.