PITTSBURGH -- The Padres kept the good vibes rolling right into Pittsburgh on Monday night, winning their series opener against the Pirates, 5-0, at PNC Park.
After a slow start to the season, San Diego (5-5) has now won three straight and is back to .500. More importantly, the two biggest early concerns -- the rotation depth and the offense -- have been assuaged somewhat during the current winning streak.
Here are some reactions from Monday’s series-opening win:
A much-improved Márquez
The Padres desperately needed an outing like this one from the back end of their starting rotation. It’s perhaps the biggest question mark on the current roster -- and the first few outings at the back end did little to answer those questions.
Until Monday. After a dud of a Padres debut, Germán Márquez was much, much better on Monday night. He pitched five scoreless innings, striking out four and walking one. The Pirates managed six hits -- and proceeded to help Márquez with some poor baserunning. But that doesn’t change the fact: This was a different Márquez.
For one, Márquez was locating his signature curveball. He threw it at a much increased 45% clip and used it for eight whiffs. What little hard contact the Pirates made was typically on the ground.
“I was competing today,” said Márquez, who lowered his career ERA against Pittsburgh to 1.71 in eight career starts. “That was fun, to find a way to throw my curveball today. I made good pitches in good situations.”
The Padres feel good about the trio at the front of their current rotation -- Nick Pivetta, Michael King and Randy Vásquez. There was less certainty about Márquez and Walker Buehler at the back end.
But if even one of those two can make a meaningful contribution, well … San Diego has Griffin Canning and Matt Waldron on their way back from injury and Joe Musgrove at some point after them. It’s possible the depth of the rotation won’t be the weakness some had envisioned.
Legitimate lineup depth
There’s been plenty of discussion about the composition of manager Craig Stammen’s lineups. Generally speaking, that’s missing a bigger point about this season’s offense compared to last year’s. (Or at least the offense at the start of the 2025 season.)
Whoever fills out the bottom third of this lineup, they’re a threat. That wasn’t always the case when Yuli Gurriel, Jason Heyward and Martin Maldonado were seeing regular at-bats last April.
On Monday night, Nick Castellanos, Freddy Fermin and Jake Cronenworth all singled and doubled from the seven through nine spots in the order, respectively. Cronenworth reached three times.
“They say hitting is contagious,” Castellanos said. “Hitting is also mostly about attitude. So I think that when we have an attitude and a swag about us, it can become infectious, and then everybody wants to get on board. And then you have a lineup that’s doing their thing.”
Before the game, Stammen admitted he might be tinkering with his lineups a touch too frequently. He’d like to settle on a more regular order. But whatever lineup he settles on -- if he settles on a regular lineup at all -- the overall quality of the nine hitters in that order is far more important than the order itself.
Bullpen pieces it together
Mason Miller is other-worldly right now. Adrian Morejon was an All-Star last summer. Jeremiah Estrada’s stuff is electric, and Jason Adam is on his way back from left quad surgery. The back end of San Diego’s bullpen is elite. Truly elite.
But the Padres believe they own one of the best overall bullpens in recent memory -- and not merely because of those arms at the back end. They’ve touted their bullpen depth just as often as they’ve touted their high-leverage arms.
On Monday, they showed why. The Padres wanted to stay away from Miller and Estrada, after both had pitched on Saturday and Sunday in Boston. Instead, Ron Marinaccio and David Morgan pitched two scoreless innings apiece -- keeping the game out of reach, while preserving a high-leverage arm like Morejon for another day.
“We just trust every guy in our bullpen,” Stammen said. “Then, we try to set them up with good matchups.”
It could make for an interesting decision when Adam is ready to return from left quad surgery, perhaps later this week. Over the weekend, Adam pitched in consecutive games on a rehab stint with Triple-A El Paso. He’s not far from a return -- another electric arm joining an already elite bullpen.