After two hard-fought wins for the Padres, one of the team’s question marks (from the outside looking in) was at the center of the game for San Diego. 

Randy Vasquez made his first start of the season for the Padres on national television. After his rollercoaster 2024 campaign, his inclusion in the season-opening rotation generated one question: Would the real Randy Vasquez please stand up?

Suffice it to say, Randy came to play, though initial impressions were not such.

Vasquez led off the game with back-to-back walks, bringing Matt Olson to the plate. On the surface, it was a nightmare scenario for the right-hander, as left-handed batters had a .365/.421/.539 slash line against Vasquez in 2024. However, Vasquez made strides to improve against left-handers between last season and now, and his cutter was at the forefront of these improvements. Wouldn’t you guess it, a first pitch cutter to Olson generated a weak grounder to shortstop, where Xander Bogaerts turned a 6-3 double play. Vasquez was out of the woods safely five pitches later, getting Marcell Ozuna swinging on a sweeper. 

Vasquez settled in after the second inning, retiring six of the next seven batters before the fourth inning.

This streak came to an end, and Vasquez was in yet another tricky wicket. Marcell Ozuna drew a walk after Vasquez missed his location on a pair of changeups, and Ozzie Albies lined a 97.3 mph single to right field on a leaking changeup. Surely, what did Vasquez do next? The right-hander turned to his ol’ reliable cutter up and in, getting a weak liner off the bat of Michael Harris II. 

Two outs, two on, right?

That liner led to the end of the inning, as in a moment of 200 IQ baseball, Jake Cronenworth let the ball come to him on one hop, throwing to third to get the second out, and with the Braves’ runners frozen, Manny Machado threw back to second, where Bogaerts put a bow on the double play. Speaking of Manny Machado, in his second at-bat against Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach, Machado fouled a ball off his right calf. He was able to continue the at-bat, but after flying out to right field, the Padres’ third baseman did not return to the game. He is out with what the Padres reported as right calf tightness. 

The game remained even into the sixth inning, where the Braves put up their biggest scoring threat of the game. Matt Olson, facing Vasquez for the third time, torched a sweeper from the right-hander to the right-center field alley, which came inches from leaving the ballpark. Only thanks to the efforts of Fernando Tatis Jr did the ball remain in the ballpark, as Tatis seemingly pulled the ball back onto the warning track, and the replay review confirmed such. A fatiguing Vasquez walked Ozuna again, and facing Albies, a high-and-tight sweeper got a popup to Luis Arraez at first, securing six shutout innings for Randy Vasquez. While Vasquez generated only four whiffs on the day, he succeeded in generating weak contact, allowing him to pitch deep into the game. 

Six scoreless from Randy ? pic.twitter.com/w7bfCXZYdS

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) March 30, 2025

Despite Vasquez’s efforts, the game remained tied as Schwellenbach matched Vasquez frame by frame. The Braves starter was dominant as well, scattering one hit and one walk with four strikeouts weaved in there for good measure. The game would ultimately come down to the bullpens, and with the Padres’ headliners down after two straight games, Wandy Peralta entered for San Diego and appeared rejuvenated, making quick work of the Braves on six pitches in the top of the seventh. 

San Diego’s lineup awoke from slumber in the seventh with two outs, albeit in such a baseball sort of way. Jake Cronenworth lined an Aaron Bummer sinker up the middle for a double. Sounds normal, except for one element: the ball hit off Bummer’s cleat and ricocheted all the way to La Jolla (the third base dugout). Xander Bogaerts was intentionally walked, and Yuli Gurriel was announced as the pinch hitter, prompting Braves skipper Brian Snitker to turn to fireballing right-hander Daysbel Hernandez. On a slider just below the zone, Gurriel grounded one at 94.2 mph through the 5.5 hole, and a bobble from left fielder Jurickson Profar allowed Cronenworth to score from second, giving San Diego a 1-0 lead. 

Clutch. pic.twitter.com/31Qbld9POf

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) March 30, 2025

Wandy Peralta retired the first batter of the eighth inning, and Alek Jacob took over to face Profar. Profar lined a single into right-center, and Jacob would now have to face Austin Riley, who took him deep on opening day. Jacob got a fly ball off Riley’s bat, and the looping fly ball fell fast. It wouldn’t fall soon enough for the Braves, as Jason Heyward made a tremendous sliding catch to secure out number two. Matt Olson put a good swing on a Jacob fastball, but he just got under the baseball, as Jackson Merrill made the catch in center field for the final out of the frame. 

The Padres went down quickly in the bottom of the eighth against former Friar Enyel De Los Santos, and with San Diego looking for three more outs, Mike Shildt turned to the lone remaining option with Major League saves: Adrian Morejon (2 saves). Morejon walked Ozuna to open the frame, prompting Ruben Niebla to go out for a mound meeting. With Eli White pinch-running for Ozuna, Morejon faced a high-leverage moment against Michael Harris II with one out. Harris bounced one to Cronenworth at second, moving White to third and bringing up Braves catcher (and No. 1 prospect) Drake Baldwin with the tying run 90 feet away. Morejon brought the count to 2-2 with an inside fastball fouled away, and with deuces wild on the scoreboard, Morejon’s eighth pitch of the game was a sinker middle-up, freezing Baldwin and locking down the Padres’ first shutout of 2025, as well as a series win. 

Notables from the Game:

• The game was Randy Vasquez’s sixth career start allowing zero earned runs and his first since Game 161 in 2024, where Vasquez tossed six scoreless against the Diamondbacks. 
• Manny Machado exited the game with right calf tightness in the fifth inning. Postgame, manager Mike Shildt told the media, “Manny looks like he’s going to be fine,” adding on that “We’ll see about tomorrow” regarding Machado’s presence in the lineup or as a factor in the game. 

The four-game series wraps up Sunday at 4:10 pm on Sunday Night Baseball. Nick Pivetta makes his Padres debut for San Diego, with A.J. Smith-Shawver taking the mound for Atlanta. Pivetta is 8-5 against the Braves lifetime, with a 4.93 ERA and 87 punchouts against Atlanta. Smith-Shawver makes his first start at Petco Park since Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series, where he allowed three earned runs in 1.2 innings (20.25 ERA). The game is set to broadcast on ESPN, with 97.3 The Fan broadcasting on the radio.

Diego Garcia

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.