SAN DIEGO -- The Padres have spent the past few months wondering what kind of impact a healthy Nick Pivetta could make on a pennant race.
At long last, they’re going to find out.
In a surprise announcement following Sunday’s game against the Yankees, Padres manager Craig Stammen named Pivetta as his starter for Monday’s series opener against the Nationals at Petco Park.
Pivetta has missed nearly five months with a flexor strain in his right elbow but was sharp in his final rehab start with Triple-A El Paso, striking out seven over 4 1/3 scoreless innings last Sunday. Still, there was little indication that Pivetta was set for his return -- until Stammen announced it following the Padres’ 4-3 victory.
“His last outing, seeing the fastball command that he had and the command of all his pitches -- his curveball got a little bit better,” Stammen said. “He got his pitch count up to a spot that we felt comfortable bringing him up to the big leagues and seeing what he has.”
Pivetta was the Padres’ Opening Day starter this season and their ace last season, when he posted a 2.87 ERA across 31 starts and finished sixth in NL Cy Young Award voting. The Padres’ rotation has greatly improved since they made a couple additions at the Trade Deadline. But it’s still hard to overstate what a healthy Pivetta could mean.
That’s not to say the Padres are going to turn Pivetta loose on Monday. He threw 64 pitches in that third and final rehab outing last Sunday. He will almost certainly be on a pitch count.
“We saw what his last outing was,” Stammen said. “It’s going to be something similar to that. Maybe if he’s rolling and feeling really good, it’s another little bit added to that.”
The Padres are just fine with those limitations. Their bullpen is perhaps the best -- and deepest -- in baseball. Joining that bullpen now is right-hander Randy Vásquez, who has been solid in the starting rotation for most of the past couple months.
“Randy was in the bullpen today, available to pitch,” Stammen said. “He’ll be available to pitch tomorrow and going forward. He’s a part of this equation, too.”
The Padres sit a half-game behind the Diamondbacks in the race for the final NL Wild Card spot. As such, there’s little sense in the Padres going to a six-man rotation -- and Stammen confirmed that he would continue to use five starters.
It’s possible San Diego could even whittle that group to four, with a couple more off-days before the end of the regular season.
But that’s partly contingent on the state of their rotation and how Pivetta looks upon his return. He exited a start on April 12 with elbow soreness and was hopeful for a return well before Monday. In fact, because he spent more than 130 consecutive days on the IL with an elbow injury, the player option in his contract for next season was converted into a team option. It’s unclear how the Padres view that team option. Needless to say, Pivetta’s performance over the next few weeks will be a factor.
Pivetta, in theory, could follow Michael King as the Padres’ No. 2 starter in a playoff series. King pitched six scoreless innings on Sunday, lowering his season ERA to 3.00, and he immediately turned his attention to Pivetta postgame.
“I can’t wait,” King said. “Pitching today, it was like, once I can get through this, all my focus is on him. Very impressed that he’s able to get back from that injury. And it will be huge for him to be the Nick Pivetta that we know coming down the stretch here.”