Nick Pivetta came into the game against the Boston Red Sox with a perfect record at home. That changed with one bad inning and the San Diego Padres dropped the first game of their three-game series with the Red Sox 10-2 at Petco Park, Friday.
Pivetta completed six innings despite allowing five runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Four of the five runs allowed by Pivetta came in the top of the fourth inning.
The first three batters for the Red Sox reached in the fourth. Pivetta allowed a single and back-to-back walks to load the bases with no outs. Masataka Yoshida drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center field that allowed Alex Bregman to score to put Boston up, 1-0. An errant throw on a pickoff attempt by Pivetta allowed Jarren Duran to score to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Pivetta got Abraham Toro to ground out for the second out of the fourth inning, but Wilyer Abreu dealt a critical blow with a two-run home run to right-center field that allowed Boston to take a 4-0 lead. Pivetta got out of the inning one batter later on a line-out to right field.
Pivetta allowed his fifth run in the top of the fifth inning. He gave up singles to the first two batters and Bregman drove in a run with an RBI-groundout to put the Red Sox ahead, 5-0.
The Padres ran into trouble again in the top of the eighth. Sean Reynolds took the mound with one out in the inning. He allowed three consecutive walks and gave up a three-run double to Connor Wong that pushed the Boston lead to 8-0.
Reynolds issued his fourth walk of the inning after the double to Wong and then hit Bregman to load the bases. Duran hit a pop fly into shallow right field. Jake Cronenworth tracked it down and made the catch. He then turned and threw to Luis Arraez who threw behind Wong at third. Manny Machado received the throw and tossed to Elias Diaz, who tagged out Wong to end the top of the eighth without any further damage.
The Padres rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to three walks, a RBI fielder’s choice ground ball and a single by Cronenworth to make the score, 8-2. San Diego would load the bases with one out, but then watched as Fernando Tatis Jr. struck out swinging and Arraez flied out to left field.
Reynolds remained on the mound in the top of the ninth inning and a leadoff walk to Trevor Story resulted in more runs for Boston. Yoshida hit a two-run home run to right field that gave the Red Sox a 10-2 lead en route to the win.
San Diego will try to get even with a win against Boston, Saturday at 5:40 p.m.