game story<\/a>, Miller\u2019s recovery came after a momentary deviation from his normal chill.<\/p>\nMiller walked into the dugout after the eighth inning and threw a cooler. That resulted in the middle finger of his throwing hand being cut. The Padres got the bleeding stopped before the ninth, and Miller had the finger taped after the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like giving up runs,\u201d he said. \u201cI like it even less when they\u2019re somebody else\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last night was Miller\u2019s first blown save since his first save opportunity with the Padres on Aug. 5, 2025. That was a span of 30 successfully converted saves.<\/p>\n
Virtually every sign has pointed to Miller not being traded, and his being used in that situation last night was yet another. While teams who anticipate trading starters have been keeping those pitchers out of their scheduled starts in recent days, the Padres asked their closer to come in with the bases loaded and get two outs and then get three more.<\/p>\n
As I wrote in yesterday\u2019s story on the trade deadline, jettisoning Miller (or Adrian Morej\u00f3n) runs counter to Preller\u2019s roster-building ethos.<\/p>\n
There are many in the league who believe the Padres will move Morej\u00f3n in order to improve their rotation and\/or add a left-handed-hitting outfielder.<\/p>\n
Some in the organization familiar with the team\u2019s early discussions about players believe the Padres can make sufficient additions by dealing perhaps just Wandy Peralta or Yuki Matsui.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, painful decisions have to be made.<\/p>\n
But what has happened the past two games illustrates what the Padres will be missing if one of those three left-handed relievers are dealt.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Matsui worked three scoreless innings. And last night, Peralta stranded two inherited runners by getting two outs on two pitches in the fifth inning before leaving a runner on third with two outs for Morej\u00f3n in the sixth. After finishing that inning with a groundout, Morej\u00f3n struck out the top three batters in the Giants lineup in the seventh.<\/p>\n
Said Stammen: \u201cIt\u2019s just a nice luxury to have guys like that be able to pitch your fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitchers\u2019 progress<\/p>\n
Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta, the two veteran right-handers the Padres expected to help anchor their rotation this season, remain on track to make their first rehab starts Tuesday with an eye toward a return within the next three weeks.<\/p>\n
Both threw a full bullpen session yesterday afternoon, as they would between starts. Provided there are no setbacks, they are expected to pitch in a game against minor leaguers every five or six days beginning with an outing between 35 and 45 pitches on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Padres have said they want both to be able to go at least five innings when they return to the major leagues. A regular progression could have them able to do that after three rehab starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery excited for it,\u201d Musgrove said yesterday. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of ups and downs, times where I thought I was getting really close and we had to pull back a little bit. But this is the best I\u2019ve felt in a long time. Consistent recovery. Feel like I\u2019m finally able to start working on pitches and getting in more of competition mode on the mound, as opposed to just trying to get through it without pain. So I feel like I\u2019m progressing with my pitches. My stuff is getting better every time out. Feel really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musgrove last pitched in the 2024 NL Wild Card Series. He has Tommy John surgery a week later, but it was a lack of cartilage in his elbow that sidelined him after he pitched one exhibition against Great Britain\u2019s WBC team in spring training.<\/p>\n
He has altered his delivery and worked through various recovery techniques to get to a point where he and the Padres believe he can not only pitch but do it effectively start after start.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found a couple manipulations and mobility (moves) for the elbow that seemed to put my stuff back in the right place and relieve some pain,\u201d he said. \u201cSo a combination of a couple different things, but ultimately I think the time down was the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pivetta, who departed his fourth start this season, has been far less willing to discuss his rehab process. He said at one point the only significant step would be when he returns to a major league mound.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood, good. Everything is good,\u201d he said yesterday as he exited the field and disappeared into the clubhouse.<\/p>\n
Pivetta faces a deadline of sorts for his return.<\/p>\n
His elbow injury, a flexor strain, is the same one that sidelined him for a time in 2024 while he was with the Red Sox. A provision in the contract he signed with the Padres the next spring stipulated that if he spent 130 consecutive days on the injured list, his $14 million option for 2027 became a team option. That would effectively allow the Padres to void the final two years and $32 million that remain on his deal.<\/p>\n
The date he needs to return by is Aug. 22, which does allow time for three rehab starts.<\/p>\n
Tidbits<\/p>\n
Ty France almost certainly will not have enough plate appearances to be a \u201cqualifier\u201d at the end of 2026, because he started just three of the Padres\u2019 first 15 games and eight of their first 24 games this season. But he has undoubtedly been the team\u2019s most consistent and arguably most important hitter. A single that kept alive what ended up being a three-run first inning last night was the first of his three hits last night. He is batting .294 with an .888 OPS, which both are best on the team by a wide margin among players with more than 115 plate appearances. France\u2019s 16 home runs are second most on the team, and his 49 RBIs are tied for third. His 294 plate appearances are sixth most.
\nFrance has at least one hit in 17 of his past 19 games, a span in which he is batting .408 with an 1.177 OPS. That average is highest in MLB in that span, while the OPS is second highest.
\nLuis Rengifo was hit by a pitch, walked, scored a run and went 0-f0r-2 last night. He is batting .364 with a .472 on-base percentage and has scored 11 times in 14 games with the Padres.
\nBogaerts was 2-for-4 with a double and scored the Padres\u2019 final two runs last night. He has his safely in 18 of his past 28 games but is batting just .212 (21-for-99) in that span. His .240 batting average on balls in play in the 27 games leading up to last night ranked 144th out of 174 qualifying batters.
\nFermin hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, drove in Bogaerts with a single in the sixth and moved Bogaerts to third base with a sacrifice bunt in the ninth. He is batting .314 with an .819 OPS over his past 15 games, which has raised his season numbers to .179 and .569.
\nThe Padres (57-54) are three games above .500 for the first time since they were 43-40 on June 29.
\nBy outscoring opponents 81-45 over their past 12 games, the Padres have improved their run differential to minus-13. That ranks 16th in the majors, which is up six spots from where they were 13 games ago.<\/p>\n
All right, that\u2019s it for me. Early game today (1:10 p.m. PT) and then a flight to Arizona.<\/p>\n
Talk to you tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning, By the time you read this, the Padres may have made a trade. If that happens,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-421731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421731","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=421731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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