Padres Video
It wasn't the best week the San Diego Padres have ever had, but at least baseball is back.
Weekly Snapshot
Record last week: 1-2
Runs scored last week: 7
Runs allowed last week: 13
Standings
Scores
Game 1 (3/26): Tigers 8, Padres 2
Game 2 (3/27): Tigers 5, Padres 2
Game 3 (3/28): Padres 3, Tigers 0
Transactions
Tuesday: Selected the contract of right-handed starter Walker Buehler from Triple-A El Paso.
Tuesday: Selected the contract of infielder Ty France from Triple-A El Paso.
Tuesday: Placed right-handed starter Yu Darvish on the restricted list.
Tuesday: Placed right-handed starter Joe Musgrove (right elbow inflammation) on the 15-day injured list.
Tuesday: Placed right-handed starter Griffin Canning (surgery on left Achilles) on the 15-day injured list.
Tuesday: Placed right-handed starter Matt Waldron (hemorrhoid surgery) on the 15-day injured list.
Tuesday: Placed right-handed reliever Jason Adam (surgery on left quad) on the 15-day injured list.
Tuesday: Placed left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui (strained left groin) on the 15-day injured list.
Tuesday: Placed right-handed reliever Bryan Hoeing (right flexor tendon surgery) on the 15-day injured list.
Tuesday: Placed infielder Sung Mun Song (strained right oblique) on the 10-day injured list.
Tuesday: Placed infielder Will Wagner (strained right oblique) on the 10-day injured list.
Friday: Sent right-handed starter Matt Waldron on a rehab assignment to Triple-A El Paso.
Friday: Sent infielder Sung Mun Song on a rehab assignment to Triple-A El Paso.
Sunday: Sent right-handed reliever Jason Adam on a rehab assignment to Triple-A El Paso.
Tigers series
Game 1: Opening Day was a disaster for Nick Pivetta. The right-hander, given the Opening Day assignment for the first time in his career, struck out the first batter of the season, but then walked three of the next four with the other batter getting a single and was already down 1-0. The next batter was Tigers third baseman Kevin McGonigle, making his MLB debut, who had a mere 46 games of Double-A experience as his highest level. But MLB Pipeline's No. 2 prospect collected his first hit when he pulled the first pitch he saw down the right-field line for a two-run double.
The next batter singled and Pivetta was down 4-0. Pivetta ran into more trouble in the third inning as McGonigle got another double and scored on Parker Meadows' two-run single. It was 6-0 and Pivetta had only gotten seven outs. He finished the third inning, but that was the end of his day, allowing seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts in the 8-2 loss. Ramon Laureano provided the lone Padres highlight with a seventh-inning solo homer. Of course, the Padres' offensive struggles this day could be chalked up to facing left-hander Tarik Skubal, who won the last two AL Cy Young Awards and allowed one run on three hits over six innings, striking out six.
Game 2: Tony Gwynn day didn't go any better. This time, it was the bedrock of the Padres that faltered. Clinging to a 2-1 lead built off a terrific start by right-hander Michael King, right-hander Jeremiah Estrada came on the protect that advantage. Estrada did something he hadn't done since June 6, 2023: walk three batters in an outing—and all three this time were consecutive. The bout of wildness, which came with one out, was cashed in by the Tigers with a go-ahead infield single, a soft grounder to short by Riley Greene, before Estrada struck out the next batter for the second out. Left-hander Wandy Peralta came on to face McGonigle, the Tigers' hot rookie in his second game who battled Peralta, in his 504th career game, for 10 pitches, lining a single to right to score a pair and make it 4-2. The Tigers added one more run in the inning for the 5-2 final score. King allowed one hit in five shutout innings, but did walk four while striking out six.
Game 3: After a couple of rough games to begin the season, it was up to right-hander Randy Vasquez to prevent the Friars from being swept. And the pitcher who had a sneaky-good Cactus League put the Padres in the win column for the first time in 2026. Vasquez twirled six shutout innings, allow just two hits, while striking out eight and walking three. Meanwhile, the Padres' offense, after facing a couple of tough left-handers in Skubal and Valdez, finally faced a right-hander in Jack Flaherty. In the bottom of the third inning, Freddy Fermin and Jake Cronenworth, batting leadoff for the first time this year, had two-out singles and Fernando Tatis Jr. singled to right, with Fermin scoring from second.
With runners on the corners and Manny Machado at the plate, Tatis stole second. But Jake Rogers' throw to second wasn't caught by Gleyber Torres and went into center, allowing Cronenworth to score. The Padres chased Flaherty in the fifth inning as, with one out, Cronenworth, Tatis and Machado drew walks to load the bases, forcing the Tigers to bring in left-hander Brant Hurter. Jackson Merrill hit a slow roller to second that Torres had to charge to field and could only make a flip to second for the out as Cronenworth scored to make it 3-0. Colt Keith had both of the Tigers' hits off Vasquez, who still isn't getting much run support. Last year, the Padres gave him three runs or less to work with in 22 of his 26 starts.
Random Stats
- The Opening Day-record crowd of 45,673 at Petco Park was the fifth-largest in the stadium's history.
- In 47 starts for the Padres, Vasquez has gone at least five innings 27 times. He has a 2.26 ERA and is 20-7 in those outings.
- Tatis went 0-for-4 in Game 2 of the series to snap a nine-game hitting streak. He had a .353/.405/.618 slash line with three homers and six RBIs during that run.
- Backup catcher Luis Campusano went 2-for-3 in ball-strike challenges in the second game, the first challenges by the Padres this season. Cronenworth was the first Friars hitter to challenge, doing so successfully in the series finale.
- Saturday's win kept the Friars undefeated on March 28. They are now 4-0, having beaten Atlanta 4-3 last year, the San Francisco Giants 6-4 in 2024, and the Giants 2-0 in 2019.
Website Highlights
Cronenworth's Swing Adjustment Could Yield Massive Benefit for Padres — Randy Holt
San Diego Padres 2026 Defensive Primer — Randy Holt
Three reasons why the Padres will win the NL West and three reasons why they won't — Steve Drumwright
Beverly Hills Billionaire Tom Gores Joins Bidders to Purchase Padres — Steve Drumwright
Looking Ahead
Monday: Giants (Landen Roupp) at Padres (Walker Buehler), 6:40 p.m.
Tuesday: Giants (Logan Webb) at Padres (German Marquez), 6:40 p.m.
Wednesday: Giants (Adrian Houser) at Padres (Nick Pivetta), 1:10 p.m.
Thursday: Off.
Friday: Padres (Michael King) at Red Sox, 11:10 a.m.
Saturday: Padres (Randy Vasquez) at Red Sox, 1:10 p.m.
Sunday: Padres (Walker Buehler) at Red Sox, 10:35 a.m.
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