In the season\u2019s third game, Randy V\u00e1squez pitched like the Padres believe he can regularly.<\/p>\n
You can read in my game story (here<\/a>) about the basics of V\u00e1squez\u2019s night and the Padres\u2019 3-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed a big start out of him after the first two games,\u201d manager Craig Stammen said.<\/p>\n Nick Pivetta had gone three innings in Thursday\u2019s season opener, forcing the Padres to use four relievers. Two of those relievers had to work again Friday after Jeremiah Estrada blew a lead in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n So V\u00e1squez working six scoreless innings was monumental both for the moment and for what it might mean for V\u00e1squez and the Padres down the road.<\/p>\n It was one start. But it was also a continuation.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old right-hander, who last night allowed two hits, walked three and struck out eight, has four quality starts and a 1.98 ERA in five starts going back to Sept. 6.<\/p>\n That was shortly after V\u00e1squez hit 96 mph for the first time in 2025. In his Sept. 18 start, he hit 97. And in a relief appearance on Sept. 28, he threw two pitches at 98.<\/p>\n He came into spring training throwing hard and continued to do so last night. He reached 97.8 mph with a first-inning sinker and averaged 95.5 mph with that pitch (up from 93.1 last season) and 95 mph with his four-seam fastball (up from 93.5).<\/p>\n In his past five starts, V\u00e1squez has a 24.5% strikeout rate. That is nearly double his 13% rate in 42 starts from the start of the 2024 season through August.<\/p>\n That 13% was the lowest strikeout rate of any pitcher who had thrown at least 150 innings in that span.<\/p>\n \u201cNot very much,\u201d V\u00e1squez said last night (through interpreter Pedro Gutierrez) when asked if he ever envisioned himself being a strikeout pitcher. \u201cBut it\u2019s something I\u2019ve been focusing on, particularly when I have somebody with two strikes. In my mind it\u2019s 0-0, so just try to execute with that one last pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2024 and the early part of last season, V\u00e1squez often got in trouble when he went for the strikeout. He did not have the velocity to make batters miss, and they knew he wasn\u2019t coming in the strike zone at that point in at-bats.<\/p>\n But it turns out, V\u00e1squez is a little bit Darvish-ish.<\/p>\n That is not entirely a coincidence, in that Yu Darvish has been a mentor.<\/p>\n \u201cHe saw that I was interested in trying to model myself a little bit (after) him,\u201d\u00a0 V\u00e1squez said. \u201c\u2026 He\u2019s an incredible person. He\u2019s helped me out a lot ever since I came here to San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n V\u00e1squez doesn\u2019t quite have Darvish\u2019s repertoire. But he has four other pitches he threw at least six times last night, including a cutter that got eight misses on 21 swings and a curveball that got five misses on 16 swings. His stuff has always been good. He just has not had the ability to put many pitches past people without the threat of velocity and without the real conviction his pitches could be effective in the strike zone.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw from Randy a little bit of like \u2014 not that he didn\u2019t trust his pitches but just kind of pitching around the zone,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cAnd I think what we\u2019re seeing now is him attacking hitters, not being afraid and knowing that he\u2019s got good stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n And some extra heat.<\/p>\n His last seven strikeouts last night were finished by one of his fastballs (one sinker, six four-seamers). Setting hitters up with different pitches and then using the heat to get the third strike is a very Darvish pattern.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helps a lot,\u201d a smiling V\u00e1squez said of the increased velocity.<\/p>\n Where did the velocity increase come from?<\/p>\n \u201cBetter physical shape and the work in the gym,\u201d V\u00e1squez said..<\/p>\n I wrote (here<\/a>) after V\u00e1squez\u2019s first start this spring about how that process transpired.<\/p>\n Hart too<\/p>\n Left-hander Kyle Hart replaced V\u00e1squez to start the seventh inning and retired all six batters he faced to provide a bridge to closer Mason Miller.<\/p>\n Adrian Morej\u00f3n worked two innings on Friday. David Morgan and Wandy Peralta were not available after pitching the previous two games.\u00a0 Ron Marinaccio threw 45 pitches over two innings on Thursday. Estrada was coming off a tough night.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s part of being a good bullpen is being able to pick each other up,\u201d Hart said. \u201cKeeping Mo out of there and keeping Jeremiah out of there \u2014 just because we know those guys are going to carry the load, any time you can keep those guys out of a game like that \u2026 it matters.\u201d<\/p>\n Hart had been warming up in the first inning of the season opener before Pivetta was able to close out that inning on 33 pitches. With the Padres down six runs by the time Pivetta\u2019s day was finished, the decision was made to save Hart for a time such as last night.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was amazing, to be able to pitch the seventh and eighth,\u201d Stammen said. \u201c\u2026 We kind of held him for an opportunity where he could get through the lineup maybe one full time with all their lefties. And he did that today, and he made it look easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Hart threw just 23 pitches. He struck out three batters, including two right-handers.<\/p>\n Said Stammen: \u201cTo have a guy like that, who you could say started the season as your seventh, eighth guy in the bullpen, to be able to come in and do things like that, that\u2019s pretty great.\u201d<\/p>\n Sticking with it<\/p>\n The Padres saw just 128 pitches on Thursday and 127 on Friday.<\/p>\n The low pitch totals \u2014 almost 20 pitches below their average in 2025 \u2014 had\u00a0 a lot to do with the Padres\u2019 gameplan against Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez. The two left-handers \u2014 and Skubal especially \u2014 strike out a lot of batters. The idea was to not fall behind in counts, because that usually does not end well. So the Padres came out swinging.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Skubal, you\u2019re either gonna beat him in 65 (pitches) or he\u2019s gonna beat you in 90,\u201d Padres hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. said last night. \u201cHe is who he is. He\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n Last night\u2019s flow was more like what the Padres expect to look like at the plate. They saw 155 pitches from Jack Flaherty and three relief pitchers.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could have the best approach in the world against those first two guys, it probably isn\u2019t going to work out more often than not just based on their career and what they\u2019ve done,\u201d Jake Cronenworth said. \u201cBut I think all of us sticking with it and going forth with the plan and just staying to it, we saw a lot of good at-bats today.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those was Cronenworth\u2019s 11-pitch effort against Connor Seabold in the sixth inning. Cronenworth lined out at the end of that battle.<\/p>\n Fernando Tatis Jr. had the at-bat of the night, both for what he did and when he did it.<\/p>\n Tatis came to the plate with two outs and two men on in the third inning and fell behind 1-2 before Flaherty sent a 93 mph fastball up and in near Tatis\u2019 arms. Tatis\u2019 helmet flew off as he moved out of the way.<\/p>\n After Tatis fouled off the next pitch, Flaherty did what a lot of pitchers will do to Tatis and tempted him with a slider that broke low and outside the zone.<\/p>\n Tatis reached out to poke the ball into right field and drive in the game\u2019s first run.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody wants to stay in there after you just got your tower buzzed,\u201d Souza said. \u201cSo for him to stay in there, not try and pull anything off but to try and just take his knock, that\u2019s who he is. That\u2019s why he\u2019s one of the best in the game, the ability to do that in a big moment.\u201d<\/p>\n The Padres had just seven hits last night, but they put 11 balls in play at 95 mph or harder. They hit 12 that hard on Thursday, including six against Skubal, and eight on Friday, all against Valdez.<\/p>\n Before last night\u2019s game, the message to the players was to stay the course \u2014 that they had done what they were supposed to against two excellent starters and a good bullpen. The results would follow, coaches assured them.<\/p>\n After the game, Souza said, \u201cI think if we do this and gameplan and spit on the pitches we need to to get the ones we want, these guys are so talented, we\u2019re gonna be all right over 162.\u201d<\/p>\n It went right<\/p>\n Tatis was batting second last night, down one spot from where he was against the two left-handed starters the Padres faced the previous two nights.<\/p>\n Flaherty is right-handed. So, as expected following his strong spring, the left-handed-hitting Cronenworth was the Padres\u2019 lead-off batter for the first time since May 30, 2023.<\/p>\n He was 1-for-3 with a walk and scored twice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fun,\u201d Cronenworth said of leading off. \u201cI enjoy it. Whether it\u2019s setting the tempo in the beginning of the game or having kind of like the at-bat I had there in the (sixth), I think that\u2019s kind of what I provide in that spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Stammen said Cronenworth will continue to be atop the order \u201cpretty often\u201d against righties and that it will probably be Tatis against lefties.<\/p>\n Automatic<\/p>\n Miller extended his scoreless streak to 22\u2154 innings and his hitless streak to 11 innings while earning his first save of the season.<\/p>\n The big right-hander, who struck out two and walked one in the ninth inning, hit 102.5 mph on two fastballs during his two-out walk to Spencer Torkelson before ending the game with three sliders in a three-pitch strikeout of Kevin McGonigle.<\/p>\n Miller\u2019s scoreless stretch is the longest active streak in the major leagues and dates to Aug. 6, his third appearance for the Padres after being acquired at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n In 10 games since Miller allowed his last hit on Sept. 6, opponents are 0-for-30 with five walks and 23 strikeouts against him.<\/p>\n If his two postseason appearances and four appearances in the World Baseball Classic are included, opponents are 0-for-53 with seven walks and 41 strikeouts over Miller\u2019s last 16 games. He also hit a batter in that span.<\/p>\n Here is what Miller has done in 23 regular season games for the Padres since being acquired at the trade deadline:<\/p>\n Learning the ABS<\/p>\n There were some pretty dramatic ABS moments and some that could have been last night.<\/p>\n Cronenworth\u2019s long at-bat was extended when he won a challenge on what was initially called strike three on the at-bat\u2019s ninth pitch.<\/p>\n Miller had a called third strike confirmed after a challenge for the first out in the ninth, and his second strike to McGonigle was overturned on a challenge by catcher Freddy Fermin.<\/p>\n Conversely, the Tigers hitters did not challenge two strike calls early in the game that looked as though they would have been overturned.<\/p>\n One was a called third strike on a full-count pitch to end the first inning. Had Torkelson tapped his helmet, V\u00e1squez might have instead faced bases loaded with McGonigle coming up.<\/p>\n Padres catchers are 3-for-4 on challenges with the only miss coming by one-tenth of an inch on a call Luis Campusano challenged in the ninth inning Friday. Padres batters are 1-for-2.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot better since the regular season started than what we were doing in spring training,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cPart of that is the guys locking in and understanding the parameters that we put in front of us for the ABS and our strategy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Almost<\/p>\n Nick Castellanos got his first hit with the Padres, a single in last night\u2019s sixth inning.<\/p>\n In his previous at-bat, he sent a ball at 99 mph to the wall in left field, where it was caught by Riley Greene.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t a \u201cWelcome to Petco\u201d moment, because Castellanos has played in San Diego enough over his previous 13 years in the major leagues to know what the night air here does to fly balls. He also knew when the ball left the bat that he hadn\u2019t gotten all of it.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe during the day,\u201d he said, demonstrating his familiarity with how the Padres\u2019 ballpark plays.<\/p>\n It was the second time Castellanos has just missed in his six at-bats this season.<\/p>\n His fly ball to center field in a pinch-hit at-bat with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of the season opener left his bat at 100 mph with a too-high 44 degree launch angle.<\/p>\n Tidbits<\/p>\n Ram\u00f3n Laureano had the Padres\u2018 first three-hit game of the season. He is the only Padres player to have hit safely in all three games. All right, that\u2019s it for me.<\/p>\n No game today. Talk to you Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning, After a loss that shined a light on a potential weakness and a loss that served…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-242129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-san-diego-padres","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/lineups.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/miller.png\")
<\/p>\n
\nXander Bogaerts was 0-for-4, his first game without a hit. He did put three balls in play at 98.9 mph or harder. Of the 12 balls he has put in play this season, seven have been hit at least that hard.
\nThe four walks issued by V\u00e1squez and Miller brought the Padres pitching staff\u2019s season total to 16, tied for second most in the majors. After seven of the 12 Tigers who walked in the first two games ended up scoring, none did so last night.
\nManny Machado struck out and walked twice against Flaherty last night. That makes him 2-for-18 with 10 walks against Flaherty. That is a .111 average and .429 on-base percentage.
\nPlease read Annie Heilbrunn\u2019s first Q&A of the season (here<\/a>). Michael King was the subject this week, and he talks about working in his dad\u2019s ice cream shop, the food of Rhode Island, growing to love the West Coast and his friendship with Pivetta. It is a gem of a read.<\/p>\n