Jackson Merrill brought a ball back from beyond the wall in center in the fifth inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. did the same in right field in the eighth.

In between all of that robbery, Luis Arraez muscled up for a home run that turned out to be all the Padres needed on Tuesday in a 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks.

“They’ve robbed me of a lot of hits this year,” said Arraez, referencing his .289 batting average on balls in play this season, well below his career BABIP of .333. “But this is baseball. There are a lot big leaguers that play really good defense like Fernando and Jackson.

“If not for Fernando and Jackson, we lose that game.”

Really, if not for a lot of things in a 1-0 game.

Arraez’s fifth homer of the season stunned a cruising Merrill Kelly, Nick Pivetta was an out shy of his 11th quality start and Robert Suarez punctuated his addition to the NL All-Star roster with his MLB-leading 26th save as the Padres evened the four-game series in front of a crowd of 38,670 at Petco Park.

The Padres believe they deserve more All-Stars still, starting with the arm that’s kept their rotation afloat:

Pivetta.

The 32-year-old right-hander struck out seven and scattered two hits and three walks over 5⅔ shutout innings.

A lengthy fourth inning and a lengthy at-bat in the sixth that led to Padres manager Mike Shildt’s ejection — not to mention an offense stymied by Arizona’s Kelly until Arraez’s seventh-inning homer — kept Pivetta from matching a career-high 10th win, all before next week’s All-Star break.

The Padres, however, still won because Merrill robbed Corbin Carroll of a homer in the fifth inning, Tatis robbed Josh Naylor of a home run in the eighth and Arraez, of all people, yanked a ball over the wall in right in the seventh for his fifth homer of the season.

The blast stunned Kelly, who needed just 77 pitches to get through seven innings.

An emerging force in a rotation that won’t have Joe Musgrove all year, is awaiting Michael King’s return and just got Yu Darvish back, Pivetta leads the Padres in wins (9) and innings (102⅔).

“It’s a tough League,” Shildt said. “A lot of good starters in this league. Nick’s more than done his part, but for us, he’s clearly the All-Star of our starting rotation in the first half, and he knows he’s done a great job. But he’s a team guy, and he’s ready to get after the second half.”

Pivetta retired the first nine hitters he faced Tuesday without incident.

Carroll broke up that run with a single to open the fourth inning. Ketel Marte followed with a walk, and after Geraldo Perdomo bunted the runners to second and third, Pivetta elected to walk Naylor to load the bases for Eugenio Suarez, Arizona’s leading home run hitter with 28.

Of course, Eugenio Suarez also leads Arizona in strikeouts, and his 100th punchout of the season got Pivetta one step closer to getting out of the jam.

When the ensuing hitter, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., swung through a full-count, 96 mph four-seamer up in the zone, Pivetta screamed as he hopped off the mound, pumped his fist and stomped toward his dugout.

“I live for (competition),” Pivetta said. “ It’s what I play baseball for. I live to beat my competitors because they give me their best efforts every single night. So I’m going to give them my best effort. It’s a game at the end of the day, but this is what I live to do. I live to win baseball games. I love to live to just do my thing, but out of respect for the other guys.”

Merrill robbing Carroll of a would-be two-run homer got Pivetta out of the fifth unscathed.

In the sixth, Pivetta lost a nine-pitch battle via a leadoff walk to Marte, but not before Shildt was ejected for arguing balls and strikes on a borderline ball call

Arraez had to settle for one out when he couldn’t cleanly field an ensuing ground ball, and Pivetta punched out Naylor to get himself one out closer to a quality start.

But Pivetta was at 104 pitches and in no position to win an argument with bench coach Brian Esposito to stay in the game.

After a brief conversation, Pivetta walked off the mound to an ovation from a crowd of 38,670 while shooting a look toward plate umpire Brian Walsh.

Jeremiah Estrada promptly struck out Eugenio Suarez to escape that jam, and Adrián Morejón left the bases loaded the next inning with a strikeout of Marte.

Tatis bringing a ball back from the other side of the right-field wall helped Jason Adam out of the eighth inning.

Originally Published: July 8, 2025 at 9:13 PM PDT