Padres showed flashes, but also work to be done, on Opening Day
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SAN DIEGO -- Downtown San Diego was at its usual, pristine Opening Day best on Thursday afternoon. The Gaslamp was a party. Petco Park buzzed hours before first pitch. In a baseball city like this one, there’s really nothing quite like it.
Except … those good vibes didn’t last long. By the time these 2026 Padres even came to bat, they trailed by four runs. They would eventually fall to the Tigers, 8-2, in their worst Opening Day defeat since 2017.
Nick Pivetta, making his first career Opening Day start, allowed six runs across three innings -- providing too much cushion for Detroit ace Tarik Skubal. Xander Bogaerts had two hits against Skubal. The rest of the San Diego offense combined to go 1-for-19 against him.
“A great pitcher, a good test for us on Opening Day,” said Craig Stammen, who became the third consecutive Padres manager to lose his debut. “He proved who he was.”
The starting pitching question
The biggest area of concern on this San Diego roster was always starting pitching. But the Padres at least hoped they could put that issue on hold for Opening Day. Pivetta was their most consistent starter last season, posting a 2.87 ERA and earning a sixth-place NL Cy Young finish.
But he struggled to command any of his pitches, walking three in the first inning. Highly touted Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle doubled twice against Pivetta for the first two hits of his career. Only 42 of Pivetta’s 69 pitches were strikes.
“Disconnected, out of rhythm, didn’t make pitches when I needed to,” Pivetta said.
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Read into it what you will. The Padres remain staunch in their belief in Pivetta. The rotation concerns come elsewhere. Joe Musgrove still hasn’t resumed throwing off a mound. At the back of the rotation, Germán Márquez and Walker Buehler come with major question marks. Even Michael King hasn’t looked like himself since last May.
In no uncertain terms, the Padres need Pivetta. A start like this one -- for a rotation as thin as this one -- felt ominous.
Can’t solve Skubal
It’d be unfair to view Thursday as an indictment of the San Diego offense. This is what Skubal does. He’s dominated his way to consecutive Cy Young Awards in the American League.
Yes, the Padres need to beat pitchers like Skubal to get where they want to go. And, no, they never quite met that challenge last year -- it’s why they fell short in October. But come on, it’s March 26. This offense has plenty of time to find an identity. It still looks formidable on paper.
The Padres missed their chance early on Thursday. They trailed 4-0 after half an inning but put men on the corners with one out. Skubal punched out Jackson Merrill on a changeup in the dirt, then got Miguel Andujar to bounce to second. San Diego wouldn’t record another hit until Bogaerts’ RBI double in the sixth.
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The Padres added Andujar largely because they believed he’d help to alleviate a major problem from last season: lineup imbalance against left-handed pitching. But Skubal is a unicorn. His elite changeup neutralizes right-handed hitters. He’s not the type of pitcher where you can adequately gauge whether that issue has been resolved.
With the more breaking-ball dominant Framber Valdez slated to start for Detroit, the Padres should get a better idea on Friday. Who knows? Maybe Nick Castellanos, after a pinch-hit appearance Thursday, gets his first start, too.
Bogaerts starts strong
Small sample size and all. But Bogaerts has made a habit of starting seasons slowly during his time in San Diego. So a day like this one -- against a pitcher like Skubal -- was an encouraging sign.
Not only did Bogaerts rap a pair of hits against Skubal. He scorched the ball in all four at-bats -- all line drives, all 100 mph or harder off the bat. It marked the first time Bogaerts has hit four balls at least 100 mph in a game since 2022, when he was still playing for Boston.
“My bat path just might be in a good position right now,” Bogaerts said. “I’m happy with it.”
New Padres manager Craig Stammen showed some faith in Bogaerts, batting him second on Opening Day. It’s unlikely he’ll hit there against right-handed pitching. But, on Thursday at least, Bogaerts rewarded that faith.
If he can get back to being the player he was in his first season in San Diego in 2023, that’d be a major development for this Padres offense.
“He’s carried on what he looked like at the end of Spring Training, hitting line drives everywhere,” Stammen said. “Very excited about where Xander Bogaerts is and what kind of season he’s going to have this year.”