Bogaerts' slam in big first inning backs Pivetta's quality start

WASHINGTON -- The visiting clubhouse at Nationals Park was filled with music early Sunday morning.

It started with Flo Rida’s “Low” (feat. T-Pain), then moved on to Kendrick Lamar’s “hey now,” which was followed by the likes of Ice Spice and more. This was how Padres ace Nick Pivetta chose to get pumped prior to his first start of the second half, an early rubber match vs. the Nationals.

Little did Pivetta know, all he needed to get hype was to watch his team’s top of the first inning. San Diego set the tone before Pivetta even toed the rubber in an 8-1 win over Washington, with a single sandwiched between walks to load the bases for Xander Bogaerts, who smacked his eighth career grand slam out of the park before an out had been recorded.

Barely two innings later, Elias Díaz shut the door on Nats starter MacKenzie Gore with a two-run homer in the third that knocked the southpaw out of the game and forced Washington to call on its bullpen much earlier than it would have liked.

“It was huge,” manager Mike Shildt said. “To get off the gate like that, controlling the zone -- [Fernando Tatis Jr.] with a big bat to start, worked a walk. Luis [Arraez], nice stroke through the middle. Manny [Machado], same thing, [1-2] to 3-2 to walk, and then Bogey jumped on him. That was nice in and of itself.

“But then we didn’t let him breathe. … Then we added on in the second, which was, really, we continue to do that. We add on.”

Pivetta, meanwhile, was an image of poise as he worked through the Nationals’ lineup en route to his 12th quality start of the year. He allowed just one run on three hits and one walk with five strikeouts.

Pivetta’s lone mistake came in the fifth inning, when he left a 93.1 mph four-seam fastball up and over the plate to Riley Adams, who sent it a Statcast-projected 389 feet into center field, the 13th homer Pivetta has allowed and just the second this month.

Four starts prior, when Pivetta faced Washington in San Diego, he allowed just three singles over seven innings (10 K’s) while getting just one run of support. This time? He had more support than he even knew what to do with: five runs in the first (courtesy of that grand slam, of course), one in the second and two in the third -- some impressive production from a team that has played far more close contests than it’d like (35 one-run games this season).

That start at home vs. the Nats was a turning point for Pivetta, who had allowed 15 earned runs over his prior four starts in June. This time, it’s a continuation of Pivetta’s dominance as he leads San Diego’s rotation in its battle for the National League West. He became the first Padre to 10 wins this season, just the third 10-win season of his career. (Of course, pitcher wins and losses don’t mean a whole lot -- as Pivetta himself will say -- but it is a sign of what having him on the bump can do for San Diego.)

“I’m a little more [objective] when it comes to wins because I think a lot of pitchers can have great games and not get a win,” Pivetta said. “So I think it’s just more about how many zeros and how quick I can get in, how [few] walks I can give up, just how much I can pound the strike zone. And if a win comes, a win comes, but for me it’s just continuing to pitch, throw up zeros and do my thing.”

And of course, it helps to have a hefty lead early on. Gore didn’t have that, and -- whether it was rust from the All-Star break (Gore was one of the Nats’ representatives) or something else -- the Padres were able to jump on him early by taking advantage of his more wild stuff.

Two walks, a single and then Bogaerts’ homer -- on the first pitch he saw from Gore -- and the rest was history. The Padres just hope they’ll respond to any more losses along the way in kind.

“It says a lot about the guys,” Shildt said. “Listen, the guys show up every day -- but rain delay last night, go battle their tails off … came up short.

“... And it means, ‘OK, we’ve got to figure this out.’ And guys just showed up with the proper amount of ‘get after it’ attitude. And Pivetta was good on the mound with the shutdown innings.”