Padres secure the equalizer against Detroit in shutout fashion
Apr 22, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Nick Pivetta (27) pitches in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Following a 6-4 loss in the opener on Monday, the Padres secured a much-needed equalizer behind yet another shutdown pitching performance
Nick Pivetta made his fifth start in the brown and gold, and heading into the contest, it almost seemed like a trap game for the right-hander. Pivetta has been fantastic at home, but struggled in his lone start on the road. He relies on his high-spin fastball that often gets hitters to swing under it. However, on the road versus a team that features a lot of uppercut swing types, it would’ve have made sense for Pivetta to struggle.
Instead, Pivetta combatted the disadvantage with impressive command of his heater. He was able to keep the fastball up in the zone, and effectively, out of it at times. The inning-eater mowed through seven scoreless, racking up six strikeouts and allowing just a pair of hits and walks.
He faced a familiar face in Jack Flaherty, who began his day extremely sharp. The former Dodger stuck out struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. and Gavin Sheets consecutively to open the ballgame. After giving up a knock to Xander Bogaerts, Flaherty collected two more strikeouts against Oscar Gonzalez and Jose Iglesias.
What would have been a stellar outing for Flaherty was spoiled by the next hitter, Elias Diaz. After going down 0-2, Diaz battled back to even the count at 2-2. On the next pitch, Flaherty left a curveball just above Diaz’s knees, and he sent it into the Tigers bullpen, to put San Diego on top 2-0.
Díaz delivers ? pic.twitter.com/unJ3DUKbvE
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 22, 2025
Following a stellar first three innings, Pivetta started to surrender louder contact. He gave up six hard hit balls from the fourth inning on, that fortunately didn’t amount to anything. He allowed just one single, and a whopping four outs with an exit velocity of 99 MPH or higher.
With the abundance of injuries, and the Padres’ 1-2-3 hitters beginning the game 0-9, the Padre offense felt extremely underwhelming. For the team that strikes out the least in the NL, San Diego’s lineup looked anything but against Flaherty, who finished his day with nine strikeouts.
Jack Flaherty, Dirty 78mph Knuckle Curve. ?
9th K pic.twitter.com/R8GMHiBkao
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 23, 2025
A single from Tatis Jr. broke up the cold streak, and on a personal level, preserved his 11-game hit streak. However, the inning was unfortunately cut short after Gavin Sheets lined out to center field, and Manny Machado unluckily sent a ringer back to the mound, which turned into a double play.
As a result of the long outing from Pivetta, Jason Adam was the first up out of the bullpen for San Diego. Adam was graced with some stellar defense en route to a scoreless inning. After Jose Iglesias narrowly missed a web gem, Mason McCoy secured one of his own. On a popup in foul ground, he went up against the netting and made the grab on the tarp. To close out the inning, McCoy laid out for a grounder up the middle, to double down.
The Real McCoy ? pic.twitter.com/qurZmPdP14
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 23, 2025
With one out, Tirso Ornelas pinch-hit for Oscar Gonzalez in the ninth, and worked an encouraging walk. After a cutter grazed Iglesias, the Padres had something going with two on and one out. Riley Greene likely saved a run, or at least a bases loaded situation for the time being with a diving catch. However a quick walk to Tyler Wade loaded the bases for Mason McCoy, who struck out on an outside slider.
With the score still deadlocked at 2-0, Robert Suarez entered his tenth save situation of the year. His first pitch was a 94 MPH fastball that sailed over everything except the backstop. Suarez recovered quickly, getting back up to the 98-99 MPH range and striking out a great hitter in Riley Greene. Afterwards, he induced a pair of flyouts to secure the win for San Diego, moving them to a commanding 17-7 record.
Following his ninth hold of the young season, Jason Adam spoke to the chemistry of the bullpen. Adam described the atmosphere as a “good time with your friends”, then stating that “when it’s time to get serious you get serious.” The right-hander summed it up perfectly. San Diego’s bullpen has been incredible, thanks in part to the group’s connectivity.
The San Diego Padres will play it’s first morning game of the year, as they close out their series with Detroit. Kyle Hart will be on the hill for the Padres, and will face Reese Olson for Detroit. First pitch at Comerica Park tomorrow is set for 10:00 AM.
A 17-year-old San Diego native, Willy Warren is a baseball fan at heart who created High Leverage Baseball, a combination of around-the-league statistical analysis and breakdowns on X, and daily newsletters on the TikTok platform. Willy passionately studies Journalism at San Dieguito Academy, and is working to become billingual in Spanish to assist in communicating with Latin-born players and coaches.