Padres make statement in San Franciso, win series opener 4-1
Credit: Jeff Chiu/AP
San Diego opened a critical stretch of divisional matchups on the right foot, winning 4-1 over the Giants on the road
Veteran aces Yu Darvish and Logan Webb battled it out in the early innings, but San Diego prevailed, tagging Webb with four runs. Timely hitting, and Freddy Fermin’s first home run with the Padres were more than enough for the Padres bullpen to take care of business. Both Jeremiah Estrada and Mason Miller were efficient out of the ‘pen, and Robert Suarez collected his league-leading 33rd save.
Yu Darvish took the ball for San Diego to open the series in San Francisco. In his last outing, he allowed three runs to the Diamondbacks across four innings. His ERA is currently floating at 6.51, although he has just six starts to his name since returning from injury.
For the Giants, their ace Logan Webb received the benefit of setting the tone for the series. He’s been impressive in 2024, maintaining his signature sub-three and a half ERA. He’s a major beneficiary of the ground ball, as he features impressive movement on his pitches.
For the first four frames, it was a vintage duel of the two perennial NL West aces. Logan Webb allowed just one hit, while racking up two strikeouts without any walks. He racked up ten of the first twelve outs on ground balls, a career-high mark for him. On the other side, Darvish tossed up zeroes behind an impressive array of timely and well executed breaking pitches. He racked up three strikeouts. His command was high-level, and kept an underwhelming San Francisco offense at bay.
In both the fifth and sixth innings, San Diego put multiple on base against Webb. In the fifth, singles from lefties Jackson Merrill and Gavin Sheets put pressure on the Giants’ starter. However, Webb retired Jake Cronenworth and Freddy Fermin with his reliable ground ball outs to end the threat.
In the sixth however, Fernando Tatis Jr. opened the inning with the game’s first extra-base hit. His leadoff double preceded what appeared to be a pitch around to Manny Machado. With the aforementioned two runners on base — and two outs in the inning, Jackson Merrill came up to the dish in the midst of a 2-2 evening. In a battle of veteran ace-against-young star, that seems to always go to the experienced hurler, the up-and-comer won this round. Merrill shot a fastball through the infield for a double that plated the first run of the game — in the Padres column.
The Kid getting it done. pic.twitter.com/oNbpESyH4R
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 12, 2025
However, it didn’t take long for the Giants to answer back to the Padres’ breakthrough. After retiring the first two Giants batters, the struggling Rafael Devers dug in to face Darvish for a third time. Delivering the second pitch to Devers, Darvish stalled in his windup to a near-comical extent. The pitch tailed outside, however Darvish repeated the action. Suddenly, Devers ambushed the fastball for an opposite field home run, as the pitch ended up in just about the same spot as the last one. Darvish escaped the sixth with just the one run, but San Francisco evened up the score and sent their ace back out to the rubber.
Rafael Devers goes oppo 🌮 to tie things up in the Bay! pic.twitter.com/hFJt3q4uIw
— MLB (@MLB) August 12, 2025
Despite the sudden momentum shift, the Padres answered back even quicker. Leading off the seventh, Gavin Sheets ambushed a high changeup early in the count for a double to silence the San Francisco crowd. Just a few pitches later, Cronenworth scorched a changeup through the hole into right, plating the go-ahead run in a flash. Right behind him, was Freddy Fermin who was also in ambush mode, delivered the decisive blow. Fermin crushed a cement-mixer sweeper down the line and just over the wall in the corner. The home run gave the Padres a 4-1 advantage, and all the momentum with their superb bullpen coming into play.
The Ferminator 🦾 pic.twitter.com/nzDOnigGQD
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 12, 2025
The Padres’ lockdown bullpen came into effect, in the form of Estrada and Miller. Estrada tossed a scoreless seventh, striking out Patrick Bailey in the process. In the eighth inning, Miller came on and struck out the side on a slider, changeup, and fastball. The trio of punchouts marked the Padres’ second time striking out the side in the game, as Darvish did back in the fifth.
In the ninth, Tatis Jr. collected his second double of the game, but the Padres couldn’t score him. Suarez — who was charged with a blown save on Saturday — came on to shut down the Giants. Facing the Giants’ only effective offense on the night, Devers, Suarez tossed a pretty changeup to induce a much-needed groundout. Then, Willy Adames hit Suarez hard, but right at center fielder Merrill for the out. Dom Smith was all that stood between the Padres and a commanding win in the series-opener. Smith put up a pesky at-bat, but Suarez eventually won the battle by inducing a flyout.
San Diego will continue the series tomorrow at 6:45 PM at Oracle Park. Nestor Cortes will toe the rubber for the Padres, as Robbie Ray will start for San Francisco.
A 17-year-old San Diego native, Willy Warren is a baseball fan at heart who created High Leverage Baseball, a public baseball media account covering around-the-league statistical analysis and breakdowns on X. Willy is set to attend the Cronkite School of Journalism in the fall of 2026 at Arizona State University, where he’ll pursue a major in sports journalism.