Good morning from Boston,
A game it looked like the Padres would win without doing much of anything ended up having a little bit of almost everything.
As the headline for my game story (here) stated, the Padres beat the San Francisco Giants yesterday afternoon with a bit of Jackson Merrill hustle, the season debut of the real Nick Pivetta, some good fortune and a bunch of hits.
Those season-high 10 hits, which included a home run by Ramón Laureano, were cranked out by a radically revamped lineup.
We will talk about both of those things, as well as why Pivetta threw fewer curveballs than he had in two seasons and how Mason Miller lost one of his streaks while getting the final four outs to earn a save in a game decided by six runs.
Merrill was a big focus of my game story from the 7-1 victory.
The 22-year-old center fielder is always happy to be at the ballpark, but he arrived yesterday with intent. He wanted to get his teammates going.
He did so in the clubhouse beforehand and then by scoring from first base on Manny Machado’s 77 mph groundball and an error by Giants first baseman Casey Schmitt in the first inning. (The error was initially charged to Chapman but changed to Schmitt.)
Jackson Merrill scores on an error by Matt Chapman#ForTheFaithful pic.twitter.com/wyyLJ7VnHw
— San Diego Strong (@PadresStrong) April 1, 2026
“Whenever we play that game, I think it’s big for us,” said Machado, who on that infield single also hustled down the line at 27.3 feet per second, 1.5 mph faster than his average sprint speed over the past two seasons. “That was a good first inning for us, kind of set that tone for the rest of the game. We play baseball like today, we’re gonna put ourselves in a good position.
“Just a matter of trying to do it consistently. We know we’re capable of doing it, but I think we’re doing all the right things that we need to be doing right now. Obviously, the record is not showing it. But overall, I think we’re in a good spot.”
That was something like the theme for the Padres the past couple days — that if they stay the course they will be fine.
What we know for certain is that they have a 2-4 record exactly 1/27th of the way through the season.
Good, bad and ugly, it has been interesting.
Sharing the load
Craig Stammen has insisted from the time he took the job that he would rely on his staff quite a bit in his first season as a manager at any level.
On Wednesday, after the Padres scored four more runs than they had in any of their first five games, Stammen pointed to the counsel of bench coach Randy Knorr for any credit that was to be given to a switched-up batting order.
“This is his lineup,” Stammen said. “I said, ‘I’m tired. I’m not working really well on this.’ And he goes, ‘Craiger, that’s good, because I had one already written up for you.’ So we’re riding with Randy right now.”
Knorr played down his contribution as nothing different than he has done for every manager he has worked for. Stammen did have final say and “switched a couple (players) around.”
But he said the collaboration was for the most part Knorr’s work.
Primarily, Knorr moved Fernando Tatis Jr. back into the leadoff spot, where he was the season’s first two games against left-handed starters but had not been against a righty. He also flip-flopped Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill from third and fourth to fourth and third. And perhaps the big one was moving Ramón Laureano up to fifth, his first time higher than sixth this season.
Knorr said that decision was based on their liking Laureano getting more and potentially better opportunities against a sinkerball pitcher like the Giants’ Adrian Houser. That outweighed the potential peril of the two left-handed batters together.
“I was just saying that instead of staggering our lefties in the middle, we put them together,” Knorr said, referring to Jake Cronenworth and Gavin Sheets, who batted sixth and seventh, respectively. “And we put Laureano in a place where he could drive runs in. It just worked out. Now we (could) do it again and get one hit.”
Yeah, lineups are funny that way.
They can matter. And they cannot.
This one did the trick.
Knorr said he actually likes Tatis down in the order “where he could drive in some runs, but he seems to do well” at the top. Tatis did drive in a run in the Padres’ four-run eighth inning.
Stammen said before spring training he planned to be “flexible” with his lineups.
“Some people say you should be able to turn out the same batting order every day,” he said in February. “That limits you when you really do need to make a change.”
While Luis Campusano will catch Michael King tomorrow in Boston and Bryce Johnson probably will not play left field as he did yesterday, it is a good bet the core of this lineup — the Padres’ sixth in six games — will remain the same as long as it works.
“I doubt that we’ll have one lineup for the rest of the season,” Stammen said. “Guys will get hot, guys will get cold, and we’ve got to adjust accordingly.”
(By the way, I do not recall a Padres manager being as candid and humble about the help he received in making a lineup. But, as I have noted before, Stammen is extremely comfortable in his skin. We talked in yesterday’s newsletter about one aspect of Stammen’s learning curve, and only time will tell how successful he will be as a manager. But being willing to say what he did about Knorr – not to mention being secure enough to note publicly that Machado is “no spring chicken anymore” – is an indication he is up for the challenge.)
Wherever
Machado reiterated the standard assertion by players: “Lineup doesn’t matter.”
Truth is, most players do have preferences on where they hit.
Laureano legitimately seems to not be one of them.
He has made between 290 and 538 plate appearances at every spot in the order except first and ninth. He has an OPS between .779 and .877 at five of those spots.
“I can hit one through zero,” he said. “For me, it’s just the same. They have a ball and they are trying to throw strikes (over) this 17-inch home plate, and I just hunt for that area.”
Laureano has batted fifth, sixth and seventh in his five games this season. He has at least one hit in four of those games, has reached base in all of them and has hit two of the Padres’ three home runs.
¡Vamos, Ramoncito! pic.twitter.com/ySgn7M8Oof
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 1, 2026
Ready, willing
When the Padres decided to not use Miller in the eighth inning on Friday and instead watched as Jeremiah Estrada and Wandy Peralta blew a lead, Stammen said Miller would be used for more than one inning “at some point.”
That point came four games later.
“I think having a day off tomorrow,” Stammen said of why yesterday was the right time for Miller to be extended. “And then also, you know, we kind of need a win. It’s important to get a win. And when we can get a win, we’ve got to get one. So having the appropriate time off after one-plus is kind of what we’re looking for.”
Miller took over for Adrian Morejón with two outs and a runner on first base in the eighth inning of a two-run game yesterday.
He promptly got an inning-ending popup from Heliot Ramos.
The Padres offense proceeded to take almost a half-hour walking and hitting its way to four runs in the bottom of the eighth.
With Peralta warming up and set to replace Miller for the ninth if the Padres scored another run, a dribbled double-play grounder with the bases loaded by Merrill ended the eighth and assured Miller would get the now-much-easier save.
He did so, but not before a leadoff single by Luis Arraez stopped Miller’s hitless streak at 11⅓ innings.
“Snaps you back to reality pretty quick,” Miller said. “But I’ll give up singles all day and take my chances. … It was the fourth pitch of the (at-bat). I’ll take a base hit over a four-pitch walk.”
During the streak, opponents were 0-for-34 with five walks and 23 strikeouts against him.
(Between the start of the streak on Sept. 8 and yesterday, Miller also made two postseason appearances and pitched four times in the World Baseball Classic. With those games included, opponents were 0-for-54 with seven walks and 41 strikeouts. He also hit a batter.)
Miller did extend his scoreless streak to 24 innings, the longest such active streak in the major leagues. That streak includes only the regular season.
Miller finished the game with three consecutive strikeouts.
Here is what Miller has done in 24 regular-season appearances since the Padres acquired him at the trade deadline:
My bad not noting Miller’s new walk-up song when it debuted Saturday night on the occasion of his first save of 2026.
Mason Miller’s new closer entrance. #Padres pic.twitter.com/Po4SvmbLBj
— Annie Heilbrunn (@annieheilbrunn) March 29, 2026
My having let that slip through the cracks is partially because I’m old and don’t really give much thought to walk-up songs. Another reason: a closer entering a night game comes at the most pressure-filled moment of my work day (deadline). Also, while I do like Miller’s choice of Korn’s “Blind,” there is for me, a native San Diegan, “Hell’s Bells” and then every other closer walk-up song.
Anyway, Jeff Sanders wrote (here) the other day about Miller’s process for choosing the new song.
There he is
Pivetta’s five scoreless innings elicited a figurative sigh of relief from the Padres.
Their ace was back throwing strikes.
“That’s the Nick we all know,” Stammen said.
Pivetta threw too many strikes to last longer in the game, striking out eight and getting to 82 pitches while allowing one hit and walking two batters.
Pivetta was ahead 0-2 or 1-2 to eight of the 12 batters that saw more than three pitches from him. That compared to his being ahead 0-2 or 1-2 to five of 11 batters that saw that many pitches against him on opening day, when he allowed six runs in three innings.
“I think it’s just me being me and getting consistently back in the zone, attacking with my heater and allowing my off speed pitches to work when they need to,” Pivetta said. “I think a little combination of everything — getting after it, feeling more comfortable, feeling better (with) my delivery, my release. Just more cognitive of where the pitches were going. And just overall just better.”
Pivetta threw just eight curveballs, his fewest in 39 starts dating to Aug. 20, 2024. His four-seam fastball is almost always his most-used pitch, and he relied on it even more than usual yesterday. His 56 four-seamers yesterday comprised 68% of his pitches, more than he had thrown it in all but nine of his previous 210 career starts.
“I was able to kind of watch the (Giants’) swings as the series went on,” he said. “Noticed a lot of contact with offspeed, so I just pressured with my heater. And they were swinging.”
After getting just four misses and one called strike on 33 four-seamers in the season opener, Pivetta got seven misses and five called strikes yesterday.
His sweeper was the breaking ball du jour yesterday. He threw it 10 times and got three misses and two called strikes. He finished five strikeouts with his fastball and three with his sweeper.
“That four-seamer is special,” catcher Freddy Fermin said. “He was commanding that pitch. The combination with the (sweeper) was really good today.”
All good
Schmitt, a San Diego State product, had a rough day. And the third baseman whose errant throws Schmitt could not handle, leading to the Padres’ first two runs, let him know that was unacceptable.
Here is video of Matt Chapman reapeatdly telling Schmitt to “catch the f-ing ball” during a mound visit:
Don’t need to be a professional lip reader to see what Chapman is telling Schmitt 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/Wly7NADro6
— Friar Breaks (@FriarBreaks) April 1, 2026
They addressed the issue after the game.
“Heat of the moment,” Chapman told reporters in the visiting clubhouse. “I’ve already talked to Casey. It’s all good. I figured that people would try to make that a big deal, but it’s baseball. Stuff happens. We all learn from it. We’ll move on. … I was just wanting to get those outs.”
Said Schmitt, a converted third baseman who was playing his 25th career game at first base: “I’m not mad about it or anything. It’s baseball. Those are things I should have done and didn’t.”
No longer chasing a hit
Sheets flared a soft single over second base in his final at-bat Tuesday after 13 outs to start the season.
Yesterday, he lined two doubles (to right field and right-center) and drew a walk.
The big difference? Sheets chased 43% of the pitches he saw outside the strike zone in his first four starts. Yesterday, he swung at one of seven pitches outside the zone.
“That certainly helps,” Sheets said of his renewed discipline. “Getting that one out of the way last night was huge. You try not to focus on it, but it weighs on you more and more, and you get out of yourself. I think that’s what happened. Just got out myself and started chasing, just tried to put the ball in play instead of just being who I am. So, (it was) good to get that bloop out of the way and then today I felt like I really got back to myself.”
Tidbits
The opening homestand was the first time in team history the Padres sold out the first six games of a season. Tom Krasovic wrote (here) about the change in the atmosphere at Petco Park over the years, with input from Buster Posey.
Machado (2-for-4) and Sheets (2-for-3) had their first multi-hit games while Laureano (2-for-4) had his second. Xander Bogaerts, Cronenworth and Merrill are the only other Padres with a multi-hit game.
Machado is just 5-for-19 (.263) but has walked five times and reached base in all but one game.
Tatis has one hit and one walk in four straight games. He is 5-for-21 on the season.
Estrada worked a scoreless, walkless inning for the second consecutive game. That follows his allowing four runs on a hit and three walks on Friday.
All right, that’s it for me.
No game today. So no Padres Daily tomorrow.
I will post a story today on Bogaerts’ return to Boston, where he was, in the words of Rafael Devers, “historic” for a decade before joining the Padres. Bogaerts has an interesting take on the difference between Padres and Red Sox fans. I’ll write that story after I wake up from my nap. So look for it on our Padres page in the afternoon.
The next newsletter will hit your inbox Saturday morning.