\u201cI mean, that\u2019s the ultimate goal,\u201d Pivetta said. \u201cI want to help these guys win a World Series. I want to help this organization win a World Series. And I want to contribute to the team winning. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m here to do. I\u2019m here to play baseball. I\u2019m here to grind. I\u2019m here to just contribute the best I possibly can and just keep going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can read in my game story (here<\/a>) about Pivetta and the bullpen\u2019s back-end trio getting the Padres to their third victory in four games.<\/p>\n We will talk later about the good and bad of an offense that got eight of its nine hits from three important players. We will also talk about how Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morej\u00f3n and Mason Miller need a rest.<\/p>\n The game story focused largely on what Pivetta went through the past five months and what he did yesterday in retiring 15 of the 17 batters he faced.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk now about what it could mean that the Padres got their opening-day starter back.<\/p>\n Pivetta returning is potentially a significant boon for the Padres, who did not know whether he would be able to do so.<\/p>\n The team added Casey Mize and Robbie Ray at the trade deadline, and their six starts apiece have provided mixed results.<\/p>\n The Padres will need just three starting pitchers for the first round of the postseason, should they make it as a wild-card entrant. (They remain a half-game behind the Diamondbacks in the race for the National League\u2019s final spot with 18 regular season games remaining.)<\/p>\n The way Mize and Ray have pitched recently \u2014 Mize having allowed 15 runs (10 earned) over his past three starts and Ray surrendering five runs in 2\u2153 innings in his last start \u2014 the Padres might not feel good running both (or either) of them out in a playoff series.<\/p>\n There is plenty of time for that to change. And there is no guarantee Pivetta will continue to pitch as well as he did yesterday. But his presence at least put another arm in the mix.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he pitches like that \u2014 like an ace \u2014 and throws five shutout innings,\u201d Padres manager Craig Stammen said, \u201cthat\u2019s a potential playoff starter.\u201d<\/p>\n V\u00e1squez\u2019s utility<\/p>\n The Padres say they do not plan to use six starters over the season\u2019s final three weeks.<\/p>\n But they could do so once during the stretch of 10 games without a day off that begins Friday. If that happens, the sixth starter could be slotted in next Tuesday in Colorado. Randy V\u00e1squez worked seven scoreless innings at Coors Field in April and last season turned in two quality starts there.<\/p>\n For now, it is fortunate he is available in the bullpen.<\/p>\n Because he figures to play a significant role in the coming days.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we may be seeing Randy here late in some games coming up,\u201d Stammen said after yesterday\u2019s game. \u201cThe \u2018big three\u2019 have kind of worked a lot here lately in a lot of close games, and we\u2019ve pushed them a little bit. Sooner or later, they\u2019re going to need a day.\u201d<\/p>\n It almost certainly cannot be too soon. Like today.<\/p>\n Rodriguez, Morej\u00f3n and Miller \u2014 the aforementioned \u201cbig three\u201d in the bullpen \u2014 have all pitched three of the past four days.<\/p>\n Miller worked two innings to get the win Friday and earned the save Sunday and yesterday. Morej\u00f3n, whose 77\u2154 innings are a career high, worked the eighth in those three games. Rodriguez, a 22-year-old rookie, pitched the seventh in all three.<\/p>\n V\u00e1squez has a 2.68 ERA and 3.21 FIP<\/a> over his past 43\u2154 innings in 10 games (six starts, four relief appearances).<\/p>\n \u201cRandy can pitch out of the bullpen and be very effective,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cWe\u2019re probably missing that right-hand reliever, outside of Bradgley, that can come in and dominate. (David) Morgan has done a little bit of it. We\u2019ve got (Griffin) Canning. I think Randy can fit into that and maybe be a weapon out of the pen that we could use for the rest of the season and hopefully in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n M&M<\/p>\n Look no further than how Miller and\u00a0 Morej\u00f3n have been used over the past four games to understand how the Padres\u2019 fortunes have changed.<\/p>\n While the Padres went 2-7 from Aug. 24 through Wednesday, Miller pitched in three losses and Morej\u00f3n in five losses. Neither pitched in a victory in that span.<\/p>\n Their three appearances since Friday have all been in wins.<\/p>\n I wrote in yesterday\u2019s newsletter<\/a> about Morej\u00f3n\u2019s workload and how he said it has not affected him very much.<\/p>\n Morej\u00f3n felt the same way physically yesterday while retiring all three batters he faced as he felt a day earlier while allowing three runs (two earned) in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n Except one thing.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, I threw angry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adam getting there<\/p>\n Jason Adam, whose 1.88 ERA in 128 games since he joined the Padres at the trade deadline in 2024 is third best among qualifying relievers, appears close to providing the Padres with another option to cover late innings.<\/p>\n Adam threw around 30 pitches with a hitter standing in the batter\u2019s box yesterday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a long inning,\u201d he said of the glorified bullpen session. \u201cI hope I don\u2019t do that when I come back.\u201d<\/p>\n Joking aside, yesterday continued a trend that has Adam on track to likely return in about a week.<\/p>\n \u201cNo pains,\u201d Adam said. \u201cFelt like stuff was moving right. A little rusty with some of the command, but it felt like it was like every other pitch. So the next pitch would be good. \u2026 Really clean. I felt like I liked how I was moving today. It\u2019s just repeating that and increasing the speed of it. I felt like the movements were good.\u201d<\/p>\n The expectation from the time he was sidelined in early July was that once his shoulder strain was healed he would be able to ramp up fairly quickly. That is coming to fruition.<\/p>\n \u201cThe initial part was slower than I would have liked,\u201d Adam said. \u201cBut once I started throwing, I\u2019ve been very pleased with the progress.\u201d<\/p>\n The plan is for Adam to throw a live batting practice before one game on a rehab assignment, which will likely be Sunday.<\/p>\n Almost all good<\/p>\n A win is a win. Right?<\/p>\n Well, this is the time of year we can also start to judge patterns and assign value to what we see.<\/p>\n Things can change in the three weeks before the postseason begins. But if the Padres are to get there and stay there longer than a series, it will be important that the entire machine gets pumping in sync.<\/p>\n Recently, the pitching staff has mostly been near the top of its game.<\/p>\n Padres pitchers have over the past 14 games posted a 2.62 ERA.<\/p>\n The starting pitchers have gone at least six innings and allowed one or fewer runs in five of those games. They have had what I call an \u201cadequate start<\/a>\u201d (between 5 and 5\u2154 innings while allowing no more than two runs) in another five games. The starters\u2019 collective ERA of 2.61 ranks second in the major leagues in that span.<\/p>\n The bullpen\u2019s 2.62 ERA in those 14 games ranks third in MLB.<\/p>\n Over the past 13 games, the Padres offense ranks 29th in MLB in runs per game (3.2), 28th in batting average (.210), 27th in OPS<\/a> (.622) and 30th in average with runners in scoring position (.170).<\/p>\n Their three hits with runners in scoring position yesterday were one more than they had in the previous three games and as many as they had in the previous five.<\/p>\n But they went hitless in their final four attempts with runners in scoring position. They could have\/should have scored at least one more run, though not getting at least that one additional run was the result of Luis Campusano making a baserunning blunder that resulted in him being doubled up at second base.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a lot of chances, it felt like, to break the game open, and we just weren\u2019t able to get that big two-out hit,\u201d Stammen said, repeating a refrain from large swaths of the season. \u201cAnd that\u2019s baseball. It\u2019s not like it\u2019s a given. That\u2019s why it\u2019s hard to hit. So we get a few of those here and there, we\u2019re going to break a lot of those games open.\u201d<\/p>\n One thing to consider is that the Padres did hit 13 balls at 100 mph or harder, tied for their second most in a game this season and their most since a season high 14 on July 19 in Kansas City. (They scored 19 runs that day.)<\/p>\n The Padres were 7-for-13 on those balls yesterday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been hitting the ball hard right at people,\u201d Manny Machado said. \u201cWeve been doing really good. Hitting the ball hard. Just a little bit unlucky.\u201d<\/p>\n Big day<\/p>\n The Padres had just nine hits yesterday, the sixth consecutive game in which they did not reach double digits. That is the longest such streak since a nine-game stretch from June 20 to 28.<\/p>\n Another positive to glean, however, was in seeing who had those hits.<\/p>\n Eight of them were by Machado (two), Jackson Merrill (three) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (three).<\/p>\n It was just the third time this season the offense\u2019s \u201cbig three\u201d had that many hits. The only time they combined for more was when they had 11 in an 8-7 victory over the Rockies on July 28.<\/p>\n Merrill, batting in what has become his customary No.5 spot, drove in the Padres\u2019 first and third runs. Machado, batting third, drove in the middle run and scored the other two. Tatis, who has hit leadoff in his past 96 starts, scored once.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to hit,\u201d Machado said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to have good at-bats. .. We continue doing that, we\u2019re going to be in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, don\u2019t expect to see the trio batting in succession, as they did 38 times in the season\u2019s first 100 games but have not since.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the way Jackson has been hitting down in the five hole has been a really good thing for our team,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard for me to move him out of that spot just because of the success that he\u2019s had in that spot and hitting right after Manny and Ty (France).\u201d<\/p>\n Merrill is not only batting .291 with an .881 OPS\u00a0 since moving full-time to the No.5 spot on July 21, he is batting .227 with a .653 OPS this season when in the No.2 hole.<\/p>\n The quandary for the Padres is that they are getting an MLB-worst .658 OPS out of the 10 players who have hit second this season.<\/p>\n So Stammen would not rule out Merrill getting time there.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely under consideration,\u201d he said. \u201cWe talk about the lineup all the time and how that\u2019s going to fit and how we can best score runs. Losing Luis Rengifo, who was a big holder of that two-hole was definitely (detrimental). But yeah, we\u2019ll keep trying to find the right solution in that. I still feel like Jake (Cronenworth) is going to be able to hit right-handed pitching and be a good at-bat in that two hole, and I think (Xander Bogaerts) is possibly someone in there. We\u2019ve tried (Samad) Taylor. There\u2019ll be some other guys that get a shot there.\u201d<\/p>\n Hard road<\/p>\n Merrill had much better luck yesterday on balls he smoked.<\/p>\n A day after going 0-for-3 despite putting balls in play at 99.6 mph, 104.3 mph and 112.7 mph, he went 3-for-4 with two singles (at 110 mph and 106 mph), a double (at 112 mph) and a groundout (at 111 mph).<\/p>\n Merrill has been hitting the ball harder over the past two weeks than at almost any point in his career.<\/p>\n He has in 11 games since Aug. 26 put 16 balls in play at 100 mph or harder. The only time he hit more balls that hard in an 11-game span was when he put 20 balls in play at 100 mph or harder from March 30 through May 10, 2025, a stretch that was interrupted by his 29-day stay on the injured list.<\/p>\n Here are the numbers from those two 11-game stretches:<\/p>\n Merrill had over the 10 games leading up to yesterday hit .250 with an expected batting average<\/a> of .351.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been feeling good, so glad I found some grass,\u201d he said. \u201cI was frustrated. I want to get hits. I want to win games. \u2026 But it\u2019s a process. So just trust in it, and I go home every day and know I did the right stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Into, not over<\/p>\n Merrill, whose specialty has become leaping above the outfield wall to rob home runs, went into the wall in yesterday\u2019s first inning.<\/p>\n The second batter of the game, Abimelec Ortiz, lined a ball at 106 mph off his bat that Merrill ran 73 feet and made a tiny leap to grab a step before his shoulder and the side of his face crashed into the padded wall.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was kind of fun,\u201d Merrill said. \u201cNot gonna lie, it did hurt a little bit. But at this point of season, everything kind of hurts. So you just keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n Jackson Merrill makes the running catch into the wall! pic.twitter.com\/hr1ZhzTSKr<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/mizeray.png\")
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