Five months, then a start
Nick Pivetta pitches on Monday. San Diego confirmed it after Sunday’s 4-3 win over the New York Yankees, a result that handed the Padres their first series victory in two weeks.
He has not started a major league game since April 12, when a forearm problem pulled him out of an outing against Colorado. He was 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in four starts at that point, and the injury stalled him long enough that a rehab assignment did not begin until August.
That comeback nearly collapsed straight away. In his first rehab appearance on August 4, Pivetta walked off mid-batter after appearing to hurt himself again.
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What changed in El Paso
The last rehab outing read very differently. On August 30, pitching for Triple-A El Paso, Pivetta struck out seven across 4 1/3 innings and pushed his pitch count to 64. Manager Craig Stammen pointed to the fastball command and a curveball that had started to bite again.
There is a version of Pivetta worth waiting for. Last season he went 13-5 with a 2.87 ERA and finished sixth in National League Cy Young voting. Monday will not be that. He is likely capped around 75 pitches, and the leash will be short, because San Diego sit 75-68 and half a game behind Arizona for the last National League wild card with three weeks of baseball left.
Washington have historically given him trouble. Pivetta is 3-7 with a 7.39 ERA in 15 career appearances against them, 12 of those starts. He beat them twice last year, conceding six hits and a single run across 13 innings.
A visiting team running on fumes
The Nationals arrive tired. They bused from Los Angeles after Sunday night’s 7-5 defeat to the Dodgers and were not expected in San Diego until after 2 a.m. Pacific time, under 12 hours before first pitch.
That loss was another bullpen giveaway, the 37th blown save of Washington’s season. “You can’t be a good baseball team if you blow that many saves,” first-year manager Blake Butera said. CJ Abrams had hit a career-high 30th home run and James Wood had drawn three walks in the same game.
Washington are 67-78 and hand the ball to Jake Irvin, 2-8 with a 5.57 ERA, who lasted four innings in his last start against Atlanta. They took two of three from San Diego at the end of May.
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