Petco Park – San Diego

The San Diego Padres returned home for game one of a three-game series against the Miami Marlins.

Nick Pivetta was on the mound for the Padres. He’s been a very solid arm since returning from the IL. In his last two starts, Pivetta has gone nine innings, surrendered two runs, and struck out seven.

It’s honestly been a miracle for the Padres given how spotty his rehab was over the summer. However, his return couldn’t have come at a better time as the Padres make a playoff push, four games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Speaking of the Diamondbacks, Friday night’s opponents gave the D-Backs some trouble in the desert. The Marlins took two wins from the Snakes, severely hurting their playoff push. That said, the Marlins, despite being below .500, are anything but a pushover. If they could give the D-backs a run for their money, they could easily do the same to the Padres.

They demonstrated this pretty clearly in the third inning. Agustin Ramirez hit a solo homer on Pivetta, giving the Marlins an early lead. So far, every run Pivetta has allowed since returning has come from home runs.

Pivetta tightened up and went pretty deep into the game with little to no issue. Against the Marlins, Pivetta tossed five innings of one-run ball and struck out four men.

Meanwhile, the Padres couldn’t put anything together until the fifth inning.

Ethan Sala,s unfortunately, couldn’t capitalize on his turn, but Fernando Tatis Jr. did.

A single to right sent Xander Bogaerts home and reloaded the bases. Then, Dustin Harris made good on his turn as well, sending two Padres home on a straightaway base hit. As is tradition to mention, Harris, at the number two spot in the lineup, has done nothing but slug for the Padres.

The same could be said about Ty France. He cleared the bases on a homer to deep left field.  With that, the Padres now led 6-1.

TY FRANCE BRINGING THE ENERGY pic.twitter.com/1DkVGzGb3F

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 19, 2026

The Marlins tried to battle back, scoring off David Morgan in the eighth inning. However, their late-game rally wasn’t enough to overcome the five-run deficit. Jackson Merrill erased their progress anyway, with a solo homer in that same inning.

Is The Kid swingin’ the hot bat or what? pic.twitter.com/EF5BKFJZGJ

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 19, 2026

The Padres continued to put the hurt on the Marlins, with Samad Taylor knocking in a runner. That brought the show to its ultimate score of 8-2 Padres.

With such an extended lead, the Padres did not have to call the reaper to close the game.

With today’s win, the Padres are now on equal footing with the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies.

The Padres aren’t out of the woods yet, but they continue to make strides toward hosting a playoff series. This is likely the best outcome for them if they want to go deep into the playoffs.

Game two against the Marlins is on Saturday evening. The Padres send out Casey Mize (6-9, 3.69 ERA), and the Marlins send out Eury Perez (7-11, 3.99 ERA).

Fabian Garcia