Nick Pivetta starts strong, Padres steal a win from Diamondbacks

Jeff Sanders, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jul 9, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Jackson Merrill brought a ball back from beyond the wall in center in the fifth inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. did the same in right field in the eighth.

In between all that robbery, Luis Arraez of all people muscled up for a home run that was all the Padres needed on Tuesday in a 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks.

Arraez’s fifth homer of the season stunned a cruising Merrill Kelly, Nick Pivetta was an out shy of his 11th quality start and Robert Suarez punctuated his addition to the NL All-Star roster with his MLB-leading 26th save as the Padres evened the four-game series in front of a crowd of 38,670 at Petco Park.

The Padres believe they deserve more All-Stars still, starting with the arm that’s kept their rotation afloat:

Pivetta.

The 32-year-old right-hander struck out seven and scattered two hits and three walks over 5⅔ shutout innings.

A lengthy fourth inning and a lengthy at-bat in the sixth that led to Padres manager Mike Shildt’s ejection — not to mention an offense stymied by Arizona’s Merrill Kelly until Arraez’s seventh-inning homer — kept Pivetta from matching a career-high 10th win, all before next week’s All-Star break.

The Padres, however, still won because Merrill robbed Corbin Carroll of a homer in the fifth inning, Tatis robbed Josh Naylor of a home run in the eighth and Arraez, of all people, yanked a ball over the wall in right in the seventh for his fifth homer of the season.

The blast stunned Kelly, who needed just 77 pitches to get through seven innings.

An emerging force in a rotation that won’t have Joe Musgrove all year, is awaiting Michael King’s return and just got Yu Darvish back, Pivetta leads the Padres in wins (9) and innings (102⅔).

“It’s a tough League,” Shildt said. “A lot of good starters in this league. Nick’s more than done his part, but for us, he’s clearly the All-Star of our starting rotation in the first half, and he knows he’s done a great job and but he’s a team guy, and he’s ready to get after the second half.”

Pivetta retired the first nine hitters he faced Tuesday without incident.

Carroll broke up that run with a single to open the fourth inning. Ketel Marte followed with a walk and after Geraldo Perdomo bunted the runners to second and third, Pivetta elected to walk Naylor to load the bases for Eugenio Suarez, Arizona’s leading home run hitter with 28.

Of course, Eugenio Suarez also leads Arizona in strikeouts and his 100th punchout of the season got Pivetta one step closer to getting out of the jam.

When the ensuing hitter, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., swung through a full-count, 96 mph four-seamer up in the zone, Pivetta screamed as he hopped off the mound, pumped his fist and stomped toward his dugout.

Merrill robbing Carroll of a would-be, two-run homer got Pivetta out of the fifth unscathed.

In the sixth, Pivetta lost a nine-pitch battle via a leadoff walk to Ketel Marte, but not before Shildt was ejected for arguing balls and strikes on a borderline ball call.

First baseman Luis Arraez had to settle for one out when he couldn’t cleanly field an ensuing ground ball and Pivetta punched out Naylor to get himself one out closer to a quality start.

But Pivetta was at 104 pitches and in no position to win an argument with bench coach Brian Esposito to stay in the game.

After a brief conversation, Pivetta walked off the mound to an ovation from a crowd of 38,670 while shooting a look toward plate umpire Brian Walsh.

Jeremiah Estrada promptly struck out Eugenio Suarez to escape that jam and Adrián Morejón left the bases loaded the next inning with a strikeout of Marte.