Nick Pivetta stellar at Petco Park again, Padres remain perfect at home with rout of Rockies

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Apr 12, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SAN DIEGO — Nick Pivetta was back on the Petco Park mound, out of the cold, and dominant again.

The San Diego Padres turned a gem into a nightmare for Germán Márquez, scoring six runs in the fifth inning en route to an 8-0 victory that kept them perfect in eight home games this season.

The victory also made the Padres 11-3, tying the 1998 team for the best 14-game start in team history and keeping the Padres with the best record in Major League Baseball.

Pivetta, who allowed the Braves one baserunner over seven innings in his Padres debut here on March 30 and then lasted just three innings last Saturday against the Cubs at frigid Wrigley Field, no-hit all the Rockies except Kyle Farmer for seven innings Friday night.

The Padres were playing without second baseman Jake Cronenworth and center fielder Jackson Merrill, on the injured list with a fractured rib and strained right hamstring, respectively.

But they got right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. back after he spent the past game-and-half on the sideline with a sore left shoulder. His 391-foot home run into the Padres’ bullpen in the sixth inning gave the Padres a 7-0 lead.

Another solo homer, by Gavin Sheets in the seventh, provided the game’s final run.

The first half of Friday’s game offered no hints a rout was in store, as Márquez and Pivetta allowed a pair of hits apiece at the start — Márquez through four innings and Pivetta through five.

But half of the 12 batters the Padres sent to the plate in the fifth inning got hits, and Márquez was gone after facing nine batters in the inning.

Through three innings, each team had a double.

Farmer, the game’s second batter, sent a grounder just inside the bag at third base and along the side wall along the left field line, before Pivetta retired eight straight batters.

The Padres’ first hit was No.9 hitter Elias Díaz’s two-out double off the end of his bat grounded just inside the bag at first base and along the side wall in right field.

Farmer’s single leading off the fourth inning was the second hit against Pivetta. Sheet’s two-out single in the fourth was the Padres’ second hit against Márquez.

Their third hit would end up becoming their first run and leading to the Padres’ biggest inning of the season.

Xander Bogaerts hit Márquez first pitch of the fifth through the left side for a single, stole second and scored on Jose Iglesias’ single.

The Padres had runners at first and second with no outs when Jason Heyward’s swing hit catcher Hunter Goodman’s glove, and both moved up on Brandon Lockridge’s sacrifice bunt.

Díaz drove both runners in with a single and went from first to third on a single by Tatis before Luis Arraez’s line drive to right field got Márquez his second out of the inning and his last out of the night.

Tatis took off on the first pitch to Manny Machado, and Goodman’s throw sailed about 10 feet over the head of Farmer, the second baseman, and into center field as Díaz jogged home.

Machado lined the next pitch down the line and over the side wall for a ground-rule double that made it 5-0.

A walk to Sheets ended Márquez’s night.

Bogaerts continued the inning by drawing walk from reliever Angel Chivilli that loaded the bases before Jose Iglesias’ second RBI hit of the inning — a dribbled a ball to the left side that was too slow for third baseman Ryan McMahon to do anything but watch the runners all advance.

Pivetta mostly kept cruising through his final two innings before entrusting what would become the Padres’ fourth shutout to Yuki Matsui and Alek Jacob.

The only stumble for Pivetta was when Farmer again doubled and Ezequiel Tovar walked with two outs in the sixth. But the 32-year-old right-hander ended his night with four consecutive outs. Among those were his ninth and 10th strikeouts, giving him his highest total in a game since July 17, 2023.

He became the first Padres pitcher to ever throw at least seven scoreless innings in both of his first two home starts for the club. It was the fifth game of Pivetta’s career in which he went seven innings, allowed three or fewer hits and struck out at least 10.

This was a much-needed start for the Padres.

Even with Randy Vásquez allowing a run in five innings on Wednesday, the Padres’ last turn through the rotation was abysmal. Beginning with Pivetta’s start six days earlier, the five starters combined for a 10.30 ERA. Worse, they contributed a total of 18⅓ innings.

Dating to last season, the Padres have won 12 straight at Petco Park, which matches their longest home winning streak in team history (May 5 to June 24, 2021).