Pivetta delivers 'lights-out' start to cap tough stretch of schedule

SAN DIEGO -- Where would the Padres be without Nick Pivetta?

Given the current state of their pitching staff, well … they’d rather not have to find out.

Pivetta was brilliant on Wednesday afternoon -- again, just when the Padres needed him to be. In a tense 1-0 victory over the Nationals at Petco Park, he struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, while allowing just three singles and no walks. No Washington hitter reached scoring position.

“He was fantastic,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Everything was on display. … He was lights-out. A clean seven, and we had no margin for error.”

It’s hard to overstate what that effort meant for this pitching staff. On Tuesday, rookie starter Ryan Bergert exited early after he was struck by a line drive. The Padres’ four highest leverage arms covered six innings.

On Wednesday, closer Robert Suarez began serving his two-game suspension for hitting Shohei Ohtani last week. If ever they needed a big-time effort from their starter it was Wednesday.

“You want to try to pick up the bullpen as much as you can because they've picked us up a lot this year,” Pivetta said. "Everybody knows here how dynamite they've been, how consistent they've been. Just being able to help the team out the best I possibly can every single time is what I'm trying to do.”

He’s done that for most of the season, really. Pivetta lowered his ERA to 3.36 with Wednesday’s effort. It marked the fourth time this season he’s worked at least seven scoreless innings.

The Padres signed Pivetta to a four-year deal on the day they held their first full-squad workout at Spring Training. That deal has already proven especially shrewd.

“Signing somewhere long-term has helped me out a lot,” Pivetta said. “But the openness that [pitching coach] Ruben [Niebla] has, the way he communicates -- it's helped me a lot, and it's kind of led to a lot of success.”

With Wednesday’s win, the Padres wrapped up a grueling stretch of their schedule in which they played 26 games in 27 days -- most of which came against fellow contenders in the National League.

Fittingly, Pivetta started and finished that run. The Padres had planned to have Michael King for all of that stretch and Yu Darvish for some of it. In an ideal world, they’d have used a six-man rotation at times, giving their starters extra rest.

But they weren’t afforded that luxury. King was sidelined by a nerve issue in his right shoulder, and Darvish’s return from right elbow inflammation has lasted longer than the team hoped.

Meanwhile, Bergert landed on the IL on Wednesday. It’s only a forearm bruise, and the team is optimistic he won’t be out long. But his absence leaves the Padres with another vacancy in their starting rotation.

Despite all of those injuries, the Padres finished that stretch 13-13. Would they have preferred better? Sure. But their rotation is beleaguered, their bullpen has been taxed, and they were without Jackson Merrill for a portion of that stretch, when he landed on the concussion IL.

“I think we did really well,” Pivetta said. “I mean, especially with the injuries that we've had and the things that have happened in those series, the teams that we've faced. I think there's a lot more in the tank. I think we're capable of doing great things. Just coming out 50/50 is good. But I think there's more in us.”

First, the Padres’ rotation needs to get healthy. On that front, they got some positive news Wednesday. Darvish faced Single-A hitters in a simulated game at Lake Elsinore, throwing three innings and 51 pitches. He could be approaching an early-July return.

King, meanwhile, has been throwing lightly, but he played more aggressive catch on Monday. Shildt made a point to temper the optimism, but expressed optimism nonetheless. King’s return is further away than Darvish’s. But it at least seems to be on the horizon.

And without those two? The Padres found a way through perhaps the most daunting portion of their schedule.

“I could not be more proud of this team for the way they’ve handled this stretch,” Shildt said. “My admiration and appreciation and love for this team is even higher than it was -- which is saying something, because I’ve got much respect and admiration for this club.

“You talk about being battle-tested, the season will do that. … That’s what great teams have -- guys that just get it done.”

Pivetta, quite clearly, ranks high among them.