Pivetta wasted no time re-acclimating himself to the major leagues. He faced the minimum three batters in four of his five innings. Pivetta allowed just two hits and recorded two strikeouts without allowing a walk. He was efficient in his return, needing just 63 pitches to completed his day. The San Diego offense did just enough, scoring three runs in the first three innings of the game, allowing Pivetta to walk off the mound in line for the win.
The Padres scored a run in the first inning, thanks in part to a misplayed ball in right field by Nationals outfielder James Wood. Manny Machado hit a fly ball to the warning track and Wood appeared to lose it in the sun. The ball dropped just beyond his glove and it allowed Machado to reach second base on what was ruled a double. Ty France followed with a two-out walk and Jackson Merrill put San Diego on the board with a line drive into right field, which allowed Machado to score from second to put the Padres up, 1-0.
San Diego added to its total in the bottom of the third after Fernando Tatis Jr. singled to open the inning. Jake Cronenworth reached on a fielder’s choice to second base when Washington second baseman Jorbit Vivas flipped a ball to second that was not in time to force out Tatis. Machado brought Tatis home with a single to left that gave the Padres a 2-0 lead. France then grounded into a 5-3 double play but Machado was still on second base with two out. Merrill collected his second RBI of the game with a line drive to center field, which scored Machado and bumped the San Diego lead to 3-0.
The Padres bullpen was good despite one pitch left up over the plate by Kyle Hart. Nationals left-fielder Dylan Crews connected on a two-out, two-run home run to left field that pulled Washington within a run of San Diego at 3-2. Bradgley Rodriguez and Adrian Morejon covered the seventh and eighth innings to get to Mason Miller in the top of the ninth.
It appeared the Padres were going to add to their total before Miller came into the game. San Diego loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and Xander Bogaerts hit a line drive into left field that would have allowed Merrill to tag up and score. However, Luis Campusano had wandered too far off the bag at second base and was thrown out trying to get back before Merrill could cross home plate to end the inning. Miller came into the game with a one-run lead and locked down the win and his 34th save of the season, allowing the Friar Faithful to take a collective sigh of relief after the base running mistake.
San Diego resumes it’s series with Washington today at 6:40 p.m.