SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Padres needed a strong effort to stop a four game losing streak and got it from their big names as they beat the San Francisco Giants 5-1 on Tuesday night at Petco Park.
Starter Nick Pivetta matched his season-high with 10 strike outs and didn’t allow a hit on three at bats with runners in scoring position. The righty bounced back from giving up a home run on the second pitch of the game to go six innings and earn his 13th win, thanks to the top four Padres (70-56) batters each driving in a run.
"I love the fact that we get dinged off the bat, that's happened more recently, and nobody hung their head," said manager Mike Shildt. "Especially Nick, the guy on the mound that has the ball, and you look up and that's the only blemish that he gave up through six."
In the fourth inning the Padres ended a stretch of 37 consecutive innings where they were either tied or trailed by grinding and forcing 27 pitches by Giants (61-65) starter Kai-Wei Teng as they pushed across a pair of runs.
Ryan O’Hearn led off with a single after a seven-pitch at bat, then Teng plunked Xander Bogaerts on a 1-2 pitch. Ramón Laureano hustled to beat out a potential double play, then Gavin Sheets fouled off five consecutive 0-2 pitches before getting hit by a curveball to load the bases.
Jose Iglesias gave San Diego the lead by hitting a single through the left side of the infield to chase Teng, who took his third loss, then Fernando Tatis Jr. drew a two-out walk by reliever Spencer Bivens with the bases loaded for an RBI.
"Guys bounced back really quickly (and) made it a tie baseball game, made a lot of great plays behind me, good (at bats) all game and then gave me some freedom in the fourth inning so I was able to capitalize on that, slow things down and pitch some quality innings," Pivetta said.
San Francisco had their only other RISP opportunities against Pivetta in the fifth when Jung Hoo Lee hit a one-out double, but fly outs on eight pitches by Heliot Ramos and a seven pitches by Rafael Devers ended the threat. Pivetta threw a season-high 109 pitches in the game, one off the Padres’ high mark for the year of 110 by both Michael King and Dylan Cease.
Manny Machado kept it rolling an inning later by leading off with a double, then O’Hearn lined a low changeup to right field for his fourth RBI over the past three games. San Diego added another in the sixth when Elias Díaz led off with a walk and Luis Arraez drove him home on an infield ground out.
"(We got) better as the game (went), contributions from all parts of the lineup... I thought we continued to get get better as it went and kept adding on. One thing we've got to work on is runners in scoring position, but we do have a lot of runners so that's a good thing," Shildt said after the team finished the game 2-for-14 in RISP situations.
The Giants got a solo home run on the first at bat of the game for the second straight night, with Lee whacking his seventh long ball of the season. San Francisco worked a pair of walks, but the starter was able to get out of the inning with no further damage on 25 pitches.
"I don't really worry about solo home runs as much because they're just solos — it's one run, it's going to happen," Pivetta said. "I'm a four-seam ball pitcher so some guys are going to tee it up sometimes, but it's just how can I limit those home runs and how quickly can I get in the dugout."
San Diego was able to immediately respond thanks to Tatis reaching on a throwing error by short stop Christian Koss, then Arraez doubled. It set the table for Machado to ground out to third, but also drive in his first RBI in nearly two and a half weeks.
"It felt alright, not great, hopefully it will come, it's a rollercoaster ride and you just ride the goods and the bads as best you can," Machado said after finishing 2-for-4 with a double and also scoring a run. "I get one like that, should've got a hit, I thought (third baseman Case Schmitt) wasn't going to throw so I should've got a base hit there, but we got a run in and gave Nick the opportunity to pitch the game and get the offense going."
Both Jake Cronenworth (elbow) and Jackson Merrill (ankle) did not play for the night, with Cronenworth having been hit by a fastball during the fifth inning on Monday. Shildt said the infielder was available for the game but the situation didn't dictate using him. Merrill received imaging on his left ankle, with the x-ray coming back negative; the outfielder’s status remains day-to-day.
Game three of the four-game set will see the Padres send JP Sears (7-10, 5.12 ERA) to the hill for his second start with the Brown and Gold, while the Giants counter with Landen Roup (7-6, 3.45 ERA) for the first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. at Petco Park.
This story was updated at 11:04 p.m.