Last night’s game might not have seemed as important as it was. The San Diego Padres dropped their series opener on Tuesday night versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their magic number remained at two to clinch a playoff spot with five games left to play. Three of those games come against the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, it still felt all but certain that the Padres would clinch. Tuesday night gave a bit of fear that San Diego would regress.
Instead, they turned in a fantastic performance on Wednesday
night, besting the rival Dodgers and forcing the rubber match in today’s finale. The offense performed well, scoring five runs. But it was the pitching staff that truly outdid themselves. The Friars’ pitchers surrendered just one run despite allowing plenty of traffic. Notably, David Morgan worked out a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning. San Diego will need more of that if they want to get anywhere in October.
Taking the mound
Tyler Glasnow (LAD) v. Nick Pivetta (SD)
Similar to Pivetta, Glasnow has spent the majority of his time on the injured list this season. However, Glasnow owns a 4.50 ERA since coming off of the IL. He pitched well in August (3.00 ERA), but his last three starts have been tough. The righty has given up four runs in two of his last three appearances.
Glasnow hasn’t faced the Friars yet this season, but he’s pitched well against them in the past. Of the hitters with 10-plus at-bats against the right-hander, none are batting above league average (.244). San Diego will need to reverse that narrative in order to win the series finale over the rival Dodgers.
Pivetta has surged since returning from the IL earlier this month. In three starts this month, the veteran right-hander owns a 1.93 ERA through 14 innings pitched. His ERA on the season has now dropped to 3.30 (30.0 IP). In those last three starts, Pivetta has surrendered a total of three runs on 11 hits and one walk.
He’s looked dominant since his return, which has been huge for the Padres. Pivetta’s strikeout numbers were initially down, with just two in his first five innings. But they’ve since bumped up (11 K’s across 14 innings). He is San Diego’s most volatile starter since his arm is relatively untested this season. It’s very possible that he crashes and burns soon, though he could continue to go on the run he’s been on.
Batter up!
Manny Machado slugged the 398th home run of his career to open the scoring on Wednesday night. He’s one away from his first 30-homer season since 2023 and could easily do so in the final four games of the year. Regardless, if he can start to get hot (especially with the coming playoffs) it would be a huge turn of fortune for San Diego.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Dustin Harris, LF
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Ty France, 1B
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Luis Campusano, C
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Ethan Salas, DH
Despite the Dodgers outhitting the Padres last night, San Diego made better use of their opportunities. You’d think that wouldn’t be the case with the Friars going 1-for-10 with RISP, but they still scored when it mattered. Most importantly, the Padres capitalized on Los Angeles’ mistakes. They played some great baseball, and they’ll need to continue that.
Relief corps
Starter Robbie Ray worked a grueling 3 1/3 innings before Morgan finished out the fourth inning. He surrendered just one run, but needed a whopping 84 pitches to complete the outing. After that, the ‘pen slammed the door. Yuki Matsui, Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller covered five scoreless innings. They allowed a combined total of three hits and walked two, striking out five batters.
The bullpen will be somewhat depleted today because of that. However, Jason Adam’s return bolsters the club quite a bit. To make room for Adam, Griffin Canning was optioned to Triple-A El Paso. That means the Friars will have Adam, Kyle Hart, Wandy Peralta and Randy Vásquez available. Should Pivetta stumble, the latter trio will be out in full force.
