The San Diego Padres are back to .500 after blanking the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-0 in the first of three games on Monday and will face NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes in the second game.
The San Diego Padres are rolling after a slow start, having won three straight games and four of its last five including the series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday.
The Padres blanked the Pirates 5-0 on the shoulders of fifth-starter Germán Márquez and relievers Ron Marinaccio and David Morgan. Márquez bounced back after a rough first start with San Diego in which he allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk over three innings against the San Francisco Giants last Tuesday.
The former All-Star and Silver Slugger pitched five clean innings and allowed six hits and a walk while striking out four for his first win of the season. Marinaccio and Morgan combined to pitch four shaky but scoreless innings while allowing just one hit but four walks with two strikeouts.
San Diego’s offense has been cold to start the season and has lacked slug, but the team knocked in four of its five runs on doubles in the opener, which could be a sign of good things to come. Those good things could be coming on Tuesday, depending on which version of National League Cy Young winner Paul Skenes the Padres face in the second game of the series.
Skenes had an ugly Opening Day start against the New York Mets, albeit his defense (primarily center fielder Oneil Cruz) was the root cause, and had the shortest Major League Baseball outing of his career. Skenes was yanked after recording just two outs in the first inning and surrendered five runs on four hits and two walks while fanning just one batter.
His second start was a lot better, and he beat the Cincinnati Reds after throwing five innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and two walks with five strikeouts.
Skenes will face the following lineup drawn up by the Padres’ first-year manager Craig Stammen:
1. Ramon Laureano (LF)
2. Fernando Tatis Jr. (RF)
3. Jackson Merrill (CF)
4. Manny Machado (3B)
5. Xander Bogaerts (SS)
6. Gavin Sheets (1B)
7. Miguel Andujar (DH)
8. Freddy Fermin (C)
9. Jake Cronenworth (2B)
This is the first time the Padres are facing Skenes, so it will be interesting to see how the lineup fares against the prolific right-hander.
The Padres are turning to right-hander Nick Pivetta, who also had a rough Opening Day start but followed it up with a dominant performance. He allowed six runs on seven hits and three walks with four strikeouts through three innings against the Detroit Tigers but answered by throwing five one-hit shutout innings with two walks and eight punchouts against the San Francisco Giants.
Pivetta will face a new and improved Pirates lineup that has helped the team go 6-4 through its first 10 games:
1. Cruz (CF)
2. Brandon Lowe (DH)
3. Bryan Reynolds (LF)
4. Ryan O’Hearn (RF)
5. Nick Yorke (3B)
6. Nick Gonzales (2B)
7. Spencer Horwitz (1B)
8. Konnor Griffin (SS)
9. Henry Davis (C)
O’Hearn, who was a trade deadline acquisition of the Padres last season, is off to an incredible start to the season. He has three home runs with 11 RBI while slashing .364/.463/.697 (1.160 OPS) in nine games.
Lowe is only 4-for-21 against Pivetta lifetime (.190 batting average), but three of his four hits are homers, while Reynolds is 4-for-9 with a home run of his own.
First pitch is at 3:40 p.m. PST on MLB.TV and Padres.TV.