Frigid air, frigid offense as Padres fall to Cubs 7-1
Credit: AP Photo
After their season-opening seven-game win streak was snapped, San Diego looked to bounce back at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.
San Diego batters were stifled by Cubs starter Matthew Boyd, who fired six shutout innings. Five Padres went down on strikeouts against the left-hander, who scattered five hits. The Padres weren’t able to get much going offensively early on, as the lone runner to reach second base was Luis Arraez (in both the first and sixth innings).
On the other side, Nick Pivetta made his second start in a Padres uniform, and it was a different experience for the right-hander compared to his Padres debut.
Pivetta lasted only three innings, allowing three runs while issuing three walks. The right-hander’s command was never fully in sync, and nowhere else was this evident than in the second inning. Pivetta labored through 36 pitches and eight batters faced, walking in a run and allowing an RBI single to Carson Kelly. Pivetta’s misses were not by much when all was considered, as he appeared to be squeezed in certain close counts, but at the end of the day, the call is the call. Pivetta allowed a solo home run to Dansby Swanson in the third inning, extending the North Siders’ lead to 3-0. The Padres’ right-hander’s day concluded after the third and 76 pitches.
Dansby Swanson sends one out ? pic.twitter.com/yOp70tsdDE
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 5, 2025
Southpaw Omar Cruz, on in long relief, delivered quality work in 2.2 innings of work despite navigating seven baserunners in that span. Cruz punched out four batters of eight outs recorded, with whiffs on 33% of swings against. The Cubs were able to push across a run against the rookie left-hander, with a groundball single off the bat of Nico Hoerner scoring the home team’s fourth run of the ballgame.
San Diego had some hard hit outs the further the game went along against Matthew Boyd. Fernando Tatis Jr lined a 92.9mph rocket down the right field side… into the glove of Michael Busch in the fifth inning, which led to an unassisted double play with Elias Diaz unable to return to first base, ending the frame.
The sixth inning saw the game fall out of reach for San Diego. Omar Cruz was relieved with two outs and a runner on, with Alek Jacob taking the mound. Jacob, on for the second consecutive day, did not have his best command when he entered, walking Matt Shaw to bring up Carson Kelly. Kelly, who entered the game hitting .250 lifetime vs San Diego, turned on an 85 mph fastball in on the hands and launched a towering fly ball to left field, landing in the Wrigley bleachers for a three-run homer. With that, the Padres were out of slam range, with Chicago up 7-0.
Carson Kelly goes yard! pic.twitter.com/j9P0TzE3KE
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 5, 2025
The Padres’ bats did not go standing down, as pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets lined a ball to left field against Cubs reliever Nate Pearson. The ball may have found glass, but Cubs left fielder Ian Happ (in his 1,000th career game) made a spectacular diving catch.
Ian Happ makes an unbelievable diving catch to prevent an extra-base hit ? pic.twitter.com/iYGJ6G7nr8
— MLB (@MLB) April 5, 2025
With two outs, Brandon Lockridge and Elias Diaz singled to place runners on the corners, and a scalding grounder off the bat of Fernando Tatis Jr scored the Padres’ first run. Luis Arraez grounded out to end the frame, which went down as the Padres’ best scoring threat of the day. Cubs relievers Brad Keller and Caleb Thielbar retired the final six batters of the game to seal the Padres’ second consecutive loss.
- Postgame Notes
Padres manager Mike Shildt told the media postgame that right-hander Yu Darvish is where the team and Darvish would like to be in his progression back from elbow inflammation. The right-hander is playing catch at up to 120 feet, so it may be a while longer until Darvish makes his season debut. - Jackson Merrill’s eight-game on-base streak came to an end as the Padres’ center fielder went 0-for-4 in the loss. Merrill had a chance to extend the streak, as he lined a Boyd fastball up the middle at 102.2 mph, but the ball caromed off Boyd’s glove to second baseman Nico Hoerner, who retired Merrill on a throw to first.
- Luis Arraez had his second multihit game in his last three games, with yet another extra-base hit. Arraez is hitting .313 in April so far, after starting the season 1-for-18.
The Padres finish off the series at Wrigleyville Sunday at 11:20 am Pacific. Left-hander Kyle Hart takes the mound against right-hander Ben Brown. It will be Hart’s first career appearance vs Chicago, while Brown has faced the Padres once in his career (4.2 scoreless innings on April 9, 2024, at Petco).
A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.
A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.