Nick Pivetta came back after nearly five months and pitched like it was a year ago.
“I think he exceeded all expectations, maybe including himself,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “Very good offense he faced today, and he just looked like he picked up where he left off. Dominant Nick.”
The right-hander with a tenuous right elbow worked five scoreless innings on Monday, and the Padres held on for a 3-2 victory over the Nationals.
That was about as good as could be expected from a guy who was shut down with an elbow flexor strain after his April 12 start, did not throw a ball for six weeks and made just three rehab appearances.
“I don’t think I had that many expectations,” Pivetta said. “I just wanted to go out and contribute the best way I could. … I just wanted to go out and play baseball again. And I enjoyed it. It was fun.”
Allowing two hits and doing it efficiently against a team with the major leagues’ second-most home runs and second-most runs scored was impressive. Aside from not having the best version of his curveball, he looked very much like the pitcher who last season anchored the Padres’ rotation with a career-best 2.87 ERA in a career-high 181⅔ innings.
“It was an important day,” Pivetta said. “Exciting day, a lot of emotions. But I was just happy to go out there and contain the emotions as best as I can and give a good five strong innings.”
Just getting back to the mound was a substantial achievement for the 33-year-old Pivetta, who a little more than a month ago left his first rehab start because his elbow didn’t feel right and then did not pitch again for three weeks.
“I don’t quite understand it,” he said of the emotions he felt Monday afternoon. “I think I just care so much about the game. I care about my teammates. Care about the people around me and how much they’ve helped me through this whole process. Words can’t explain. Just grateful to be back out there. Grateful to get the win and watch these guys play the way they have been. And excited for things to get back to normal.”
His starting Monday was somewhere between a sure thing and a flier.
Other than being in a predicament in which every victory is precious, there really was no harm for the Padres in seeing what he could do.
The reality is Pivetta’s elbow could require surgery at any time. Or he could pitch for years without needing a procedure.
He pitched well in Triple-A and recovered quickly and strongly. So if he was ready, the Padres were ready.
“One is, you’ve got to see what’s up, and it’s at that point in the season,” Stammen said before the game of why Pivetta was returning at this point. “And he personally felt very confident in how he was feeling, how he was throwing the ball. I think that probably swayed our decision more than anything. And then his ability in Triple-A to have had a couple good outings, to where he looked sharp, he looked crisp, passed the eye test, passed the video test and felt comfortable, this is a good spot for him.”
On a day that was anything but comfortable — the 91-degree temperature at first pitch was two degrees off the record for a Padres game at Petco Park set in 2015 — Pivetta hardly labored.
He retired 15 of the 17 batters he faced before being pulled with the Padres ahead 3-0.
Dylan Crews’ two-run homer off Kyle Hart with two outs in the sixth made for some tension.
But Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morejón and Mason Miller worked a scoreless inning apiece to close out the Padres’ third victory in four games.
Their second straight win — the first time that had happened since they swept three games from the Twins from Aug. 21-23 — kept the Padres a half-game behind the Diamondbacks in the race for the National League’s final wild-card spot.
It was an early burst of offense and Pivetta that put them in position for the victory.
With more of a buildup, it was the type of game he might have gone seven innings. His 62 pitches were two fewer than he had thrown in his start in Triple-A last week.
Pivetta took nine pitches to get through the first inning.
After Nationals right fielder James Wood lost a ball hit by Manny Machado that would be ruled a double and Jackson Merrill drove a run in with a single, Pivetta had a 1-0 lead when he took the mound a second time.
He would go on to retire the first seven batters he faced before Jorbit Vivas lined a single to left field with one out in the third inning.
A two-out double required Pivetta to strand two runners in scoring position, and his reward was a 3-0 lead to start the fourth.
The two runs in the bottom of the third also involved Machado, whose single scored Fernando Tatis Jr., and Merrill, whose single scored Machado.
Beginning with the final out of the third, Pivetta retired the final seven batters he faced, leaving the Padres in good shape and with a good feeling about what he can provide.
“He has been grinding,” Merrill said. “We all love him in here. So it was cool to see him having fun. It rubbed off on everybody else. … We missed him all year. He’s a big part of our team. He was our opening day starter. So if we can get him back and keep him healthy for the rest of the season, that would be great.”