Nick Pivetta didn’t have a job for 2025 until Feb. 17, when he signed a four-year deal with the San Diego Padres.
Just over a month into the season, Pivetta has authored the best start to a year by any starting pitcher in club history.
He tries to continue that brilliant beginning Tuesday night when San Diego welcomes the San Francisco Giants to town for the opener of a two-game series.
Coming off a 2-0 win in Detroit that saw him last seven shutout innings for the third time in five starts, Pivetta is 4-1 with a 1.20 earned run average. In 30 innings, he’s allowed just 16 hits, seven walks and four runs while striking out 30.
How does a guy who came into the season 56-71 with an ERA closer to 5.00 than 4.00 suddenly become a 2025 version of Greg Maddux, albeit with more velocity?
“It’s just important to fill up the strike zone,” Pivetta said. “It’s important to get balls in play, put pressure on the hitters at the same time and allow them to get themselves out.”
Whether it was a mechanical adjustment suggested by pitching coach Ruben Niebla, who changed Pivetta’s position on the rubber to improve his command, or getting to pitch in the first pitcher’s park of his career, Pivetta has resembled a Cy Young Award candidate instead of the innings-eater the Padres envisioned.
“I thought he was at a sweet spot in his career when he signed, where the experience was matching the stuff,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s a good competitor and he’s got all the weapons.”
In five previous outings against San Francisco, two of them starts, Pivetta is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA. He’ll probably have to be the early-season version of himself if the Padres are to break their current four-game losing streak, considering the caliber of his mound opponent.
Logan Webb (3-1, 1.98), like Pivetta, is on an early track for the best year of his career. Webb last pitched on Wednesday, tossing 6 1/3 shutout innings in a 4-2 win over Milwaukee. He scattered six hits and walked three, fanning six.
The sinker-balling right-hander is striking out hitters at the highest rate of his career, whiffing 44 in 36 1/3 innings over six starts. Webb has pitched well in his career against San Diego, going 4-3 in 14 career outings with a 2.90 ERA.
His performance has helped the Giants climb to the top of the NL West with a 19-10 mark, entering Monday a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and 1 1/2 games in front of the Padres.
San Francisco is coming off a 5-2 homestand that ended Sunday with a 3-2 walk-off win over Texas when Heliot Ramos circled the bases on two throwing errors after an infield single.
The hitting of Wilmer Flores has been a primary reason for the Giants’ success. He entered Monday’s off-day with an MLB-high 28 RBIs, one ahead of the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge entering Monday.
“It shows you, it doesn’t take ultimate bat speed,” San Francisco manager Bob Melvin said of Flores’ early numbers. “It doesn’t take 110 (mph) off the bat to impact the game. His track record of being up there in big situations kind of speaks for itself.”
–Field Level Media
