The last few days have made it feel good to be a San Diego Padres fan again.
The Friar Faithful have been rewarded after a floundering first week with a three-game win streak. After winning their first series of the year against the Boston Red Sox, they won their first game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-0.
And although the offense has been producing much more consistently, by far, the greatest part of yesterday’s game was starter Germán Márquez pitching five shutout innings against a Pittsburgh
lineup that has been hot.
After a difficult debut at Petco Park last week, Márquez gave the Friars exactly what they needed: some breathing room for the bullpen.
With Walker Buehler only going 2 2/3 innings in Sunday’s game, the relievers were leaned on heavily. There was a worry going into yesterday’s game that Márquez wouldn’t last long enough to give the relievers adequate rest.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and San Diego was able to ride the pitching staff’s shutout to a Padres’ victory.
Taking the mound
Paul Skenes (PIT) v. Nick Pivetta (SD)
Skenes had a rough go of it on Opening Day, surrendering five runs in only 2/3 innings pitched. In large part, that was due to Oneil Cruz’s terrible defense in center field. It was no surprise when he bounced back with five innings of one-run ball against the Cincinnati Reds in his last start.
San Diego will have a tough time solving him, especially since they’ve yet to face him since his 2024 debut.
He’s one of the most dominant pitchers in the game, but the Padres have had success against right-handers so they could get to him just enough to get into the ‘pen.
Pivetta had a similar start to the year with a difficult Opening Day followed by a bounceback start.
In his last start against the San Francisco Giants, he pitched five innings with eight strikeouts, only allowing one hit.
If he can stymie this Pirates lineup the same way Márquez did last night, the Padres won’t need to do too much against Skenes.
Batter up!
With Bubba Chandler being a remarkably similar pitcher to Skenes (they even look somewhat like each other), a similar lineup as yesterday’s will probably remain the game plan:
- Ramón Laureano, LF
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Gavin Sheets, 1B
- Nick Castellanos, DH
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Luis Campusano, C
It’s possible Miguel Andujar gets the tab at DH over Castellanos. But Castellanos went 2-for-4 with an RBI last night. Maybe this time manager Craig Stammen finally keeps the hot bats in the lineup.
Campusano will likely get the start, as him and Freddy Fermin seem to be mostly swapping back and forth in the backstop role.
San Diego has had more success against right-handers, so there’s hope they produce against Skenes today. If they do, it would go a long way to continuing to calm the worries about this offense from the beginning of the season.
Relief corps
With Márquez covering five scoreless innings yesterday, the Padres only needed to turn to two pitchers (Ron Marinaccio and David Morgan), neither of whom were used in Sunday’s 8-6 win over Boston.
Because of that, the bullpen will be well-rested for the pitcher’s duel between Skenes and Pivetta today. Should Pivetta stumble, the Padres will have plenty of high-leverage options to turn to.
Of those choices, the one who has struggled the most as of late is Wandy Peralta. Called upon to get one out in Friday’s loss, he failed to do so and gave up two runs (one earned). It was a lead that Boston wouldn’t relinquish. In Sunday’s win Peralta allowed the Sox to bring the tying run home before the Friars made up for it with one run apiece in the eighth and ninth innings.
If the Padres manage to produce against Skenes, and have a lead in the ninth, Mason Miller will come in to close. He would have yesterday if not for having pitched the last two games in Boston. With a five-run lead, San Diego made the choice to give him rest.
Behind those two remains Kyle Hart (though he pitched 2 1/3 innings on Sunday), Jeremiah Estrada, Bradgley Rodriguez and Adrian Morejon. Some combination of those four will likely be utilized against Pittsburgh today.
