The Padres got off to a good start Tuesday night against one of the teams that recently supplanted them atop the National League West standings.
A three-run first inning ignited by Xander Bogaerts’ first RBI in two weeks, and a pair of two-run innings, the latter provided by Bogaerts’ first home run of the season, helped the Padres to a 7-4 victory over the Giants at Petco Park.
“We know we were scuffling,” Bogaerts said. “And coming against (the Giants), these guys are playing some good baseball.”
The Padres were up 5-1 before the Giants put together a three-run sixth against Nick Pivetta and Jeremiah Estrada.
Pivetta (5-1, 1.78) was not quite as dominant as in his three previous starts at Petco Park, which is a testament to the level of dominance he had achieved.
The right-hander, who entered the game second in the National League with 1.20 ERA, was pulled with one out in the sixth inning and would end up being charged with three runs.
One of those was an inherited runner allowed to score by Estrada, who then yielded his first run at Petco Park since August.
That got the Giants within a run, at 5-4.
But Bogaerts increased the cushion with a two-run homer in the seventh.’
“The homer was a nice moment,” Bogaerts said. “It was a tight game. These guys were battling back, and it kind of widened the gap a little bit. … That was nice. It’s gonna be a good battle, man. These guys have a good team too.”
What has by most measures been the best bullpen in baseball proceeded to close out the Padres’ third win in 10 games, as Adrián Morejón, Jason Adam and Robert Suarez worked a scoreless inning apiece.
The victory was merely the first strike in what is essentially an entire divisional slate yet to be played.
The NL West has been the talk of Major League Baseball. But the NL West teams have hardly met.
The Padres had played the Rockies, the outlier in what is otherwise far and away MLB’s hottest division at the start of the season. This two-game set is the Giants’ first intradivisional series.
The Giants and Dodgers began the night tied for first place in the NL West with 19-10 records, 1½ games ahead of the Padres.
The Dodgers (20-10) now sit in first place alone with the Giants (19-11) a game back and the Padres (18-11) a half-game behind them.
It would be too early to be talking about standings — with 80 percent of the season to be played — if not for what the NL West standings look like.
It is not so much about who is in first or second or third right now as how difficult it looks like it will be to end up in first or second or even third.
Of the top 11 records in Major League Baseball at the start of play Tuesday, four belonged to NL West teams. Arizona (15-14) is in fourth place, making the NL West the only division in baseball with four teams with winning records.
The Padres were facing the Giants’ ace, Logan Webb, whose 1.98 ERA through six starts was seventh-best in the NL.
Webb, who had three quality starts in his four games against the Padres last season, ended up allowing more earned runs than he had in his 14 career starts against the Padres.
The five runs the Padres scored against him equaled their total over their previous five games.
Their taking out a week’s worth of aggression on Webb began with Manny Machado’s two-out single in the first inning.
The Padres had not scored that many runs in any inning since April 14, a drought of 11 games after having 11 such innings in their first 17 games.
After Gavin Sheets drew a walk, Bogaerts’ single up the middle drove in Machado. Bogaerts’ first RBI in 17 games also resulted in Sheets getting to third and Bogaerts to second on the throw from the outfield. And both scored on a single by Jose Iglesias.
Willy Adames led off the fourth inning with a home run just beyond the wall in right-center field to get the Giants to 3-1.
The Padres increased their lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the inning.
Jason Heyward, who returned from the injured list earlier in the day, led off with a double and moved to third on Elias Díaz’s single. Luis Arraez, activated off the concussion injured list before the game, drove in Heyward with a sacrifice fly, and Machado followed with a single to bring in Diaz, who had moved to second on a groundout by Fernando Tatis Jr.
Pivetta had been taking more pitches than usual, getting behind and having to battle. But his first jam came in the sixth.
Adames led off with a double and scored on a single by Jung Hoo Lee before Pivetta struck out Matt Chapman.
With Pivetta at 89 pitches and his higher-leverage relievers rested, manager Mike Shildt walked from the dugout and called in Estrada.
Estrada struck out Wilmer Flores before Heliot Ramos singled to move Lee to third. The reliever’s 14-inning scoreless streak at home ended when Lamonte Wade Jr. lined a double down the right field line that brought both runners in.
Bogaerts’ first home run of the season followed Sheets being hit by a pitch with two outs.
The Padres had been 1-5 without Arraez and 2-7 without Heyward.
“Welcome back, Louie and Jason,” Shildt said. “And then Bogey does the thing late to open it up. So just, you know, a good baseball team, playing good baseball, and trusting their experience and going to play and playing together.”
