The San Diego Padres hope right-hander Nick Pivetta can give their overworked bullpen a bit of a break when the team goes for a series sweep of the host San Francisco Giants on Sunday night.
Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller have been summoned from the Padres’ bullpen in high-leverage situations in the first two games of the series. Miller closed 7-5 and 7-6 wins for San Diego on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The narrow victories have allowed the Padres (80-68) to extend their winning streak to six games and keep the Arizona Diamondbacks (79-70) at arm’s length as the teams duel for the third and final wild-card spot in the National League.
While Miller has gotten the saves, Morejon has done the most damage to the Giants’ comeback efforts in the first two games of the series. The left-hander struck out two of the three men he faced Friday, including Rafael Devers, while protecting a two-run lead, before striking out Devers and Bryce Eldridge in a 1-2-3 eighth inning with San Diego up just 7-6 on Saturday.
“He’s a dynamic reliever,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said of Morejon recently. “He can pitch multiple innings or be dominant for one inning.”
Pivetta (2-2, 3.43 ERA) is unlikely to take the entire burden off the San Diego bullpen, having only this week returned from nearly a five-month absence due to a strained right elbow. He threw five shutout innings in a 3-2 home win over the Washington Nationals on Monday.
Before the injury, the 33-year-old was brilliant in a home start against the Giants on April 1. He limited the visitors to one hit in five innings in a 7-1 win, improving his career record against San Francisco to 5-1 with a 3.83 ERA in 10 games (seven starts).
The Giants (62-87) have been fighting an uphill battle almost from the get-go in the first two games of the series. They trailed 7-1 after 4 1/2 innings on Friday, then 7-3 going to the bottom of the eighth in the rematch.
San Francisco has five home runs in the series, including two (one a grand slam) by Devers. Shay Whitcomb, Drew Gilbert and Drew Cavanaugh have accounted for the others.
Whitcomb, a 27-year-old who played previously for the Houston Astros, wasn’t including himself when he told reporters this week that “the young guys just bring a lot of energy.
“You’ve seen that even in our losses the last couple weeks,” he continued. “We’ve been fighting until the very end. It’s been really fun to have such a hungry group.”
In the series finale, that group will support right-hander Logan Webb (8-8, 4.10 ERA), who rebounded from a rough three-game stretch to throw six one-run innings in his team’s 5-4 home win in 11 innings over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday.
Webb, 29, will face the Padres for the third time this season, having split decisions in the two earlier matchups, allowing nine runs in 10 innings.
He has gone 5-6 with a 3.60 ERA in 19 career appearances (18 starts) vs. San Diego.
–Field Level Media
