After the San Diego Padres dropped Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers, 8-2, they’re not off to nearly as auspicious a start as the 2025 season, to say the least.
There’s plenty to be excited about: Xander Bogaerts’ two hits off Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, Ramón Laureano’s home run, the bullpen (more or less) locking it down and only using one high-leverage reliever.
But the starting pitching took a hit.
In a game that was already going to be difficult with Skubal on the mound for the opposition, Nick
Pivetta struggled to get out of the first inning.
After striking out leadoff man Kerry Carpenter, he couldn’t find the zone and issued two walks and a single to the load the bases before walking in a run.
He ended the inning having given up four runs but was mostly solid for the rest of his outing (3 innings).
San Diego knew it wasn’t going to get much against Skubal but managed to put up two runs against a dominant Tigers pitching staff. But if they want to stay in games the pitching will need to be a lot stronger moving forward.
Taking the mound
Framber Valdez (DET) v. Michael King (SD)
Enter Michael King.
King was an ace for the Padres in 2024, pitching to a 2.95 ERA across a career-high 30 starts. But in ‘25 he suffered an injury-plagued campaign that saw him miss half the season.
If King can return to form, San Diego’s rotation will go a long way toward being as elite as it can be.
Today, the Friars will have their work cut out for them against ground ball extraordinaire Framber Valdez. After spending his whole career with the Houston Astros, he inked a three-year, $115 million deal with Detroit to serve as a co-ace with Skubal.
Batter up!
San Diego will likely use a very similar lineup as they did on Opening Day. Skubal and Valdez pitch quite similarly, with them being two of the most dominant southpaws in the game.
Despite Fernando Tatis Jr. hitting leadoff yesterday, it seems possible that manager Craig Stammen could shake things up and go back to his lineup from earlier this spring:
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Ramón Laureano, LF
- Miguel Andujar, DH
- Nick Castellanos, 1B
- Freddy Fermin, C
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
The case for Bogaerts leading off is in large part due to the fact that he’s raked against Valdez (and went on a tear yesterday against Skubal). In 11 career at-bats against him, he has a .364 batting average and a .917 OPS.
It’s possible they use the same lineup as yesterday, putting Tatis at leadoff and bumping Bogaerts down to second again. It seems likely that Castellanos will get the start at first base after coming in to pinch-hit for Gavin Sheets in the eighth inning.
Relief corps
Stammen gave Pivetta quite the leash in spite of his difficult first inning, letting him work out of the jam. But after three innings, San Diego turned to its relievers.
Ron Marinaccio surrendered the only bullpen runs on a two-run homer in the fifth inning, but was spotless across two innings outside of that.
Top prospect Bradgley Rodriguez and David Morgan racked up four strikeouts across a combined three scoreless innings, and the Padres brought in Wandy Peralta to close out the game in the ninth.
With the game so out of hand before the seventh-inning stretch, most of the high-leverage options stayed in the ‘pen. Hopefully San Diego can get to Valdez today and they’ll get to have Mason Miller close out his first game of 2026.
