Having already seen MacKenzie Gore and Nick Pivetta engage in a 1-0 pitchers’ duel last month in San Diego, Miguel Cairo sounded confident about what would be in store in this afternoon’s rematch at Nationals Park.
“It’s going to be another good game today,” the interim manager said. “Pivetta’s an ace. We’ve got an ace on our side, too. And whoever does the little things better, I think, is going to come out on top. Hopefully that’s us. But it will be a good game to watch. You’ve got two aces pitching today, and it will be awesome.”
It took all of four batters for any notion of a pitchers’ duel to remain viable. And it took fewer than three innings for the Padres to blast Gore from the game and make the rest of this sticky Sunday a cakewalk for Pivetta, who coasted through six innings of one-run ball to an 8-1 victory.
This was no repeat of the June 26 series finale at Petco Park, another afternoon game that saw Pivetta outduel Gore to a 1-0 win. The Padres right-hander remained in peak form, carrying a shutout into the sixth. But Gore wilted in a manner not previously seen during the first All-Star season of his career.
Making his first start since his perfect 1-2-3 inning Tuesday night in the Midsummer Classic, Gore never came close to showing off the best version of himself. He opened his afternoon by loading the bases via two walks and a single. Then he watched as Xander Bogaerts mashed a first-pitch fastball to left for a 4-0 lead before recording an out.
It was the fifth grand slam surrendered by Nationals pitchers this year, tied for second-most in the majors. They’re one of five clubs that has yet to hit a grand slam of their own. It was also the sixth grand slam the Padres have hit against the Nats since 2021, four of them coming the last two seasons alone.
It got no better for Gore. He needed 37 pitches total to complete the top of the first, facing all nine Padres batters along the way and allowing one more run on back-to-back doubles by Jose Iglesias and Jake Cronenworth. He threw another 31 pitches in the top of the second, allowing another run via Gavin Sheets’ two-out RBI single.
And with Jackson Rutledge already warming in the bullpen, Gore lasted only three batters into the top of the third, surrendering a leadoff double to Cronenworth and then the final blow: Elias Díaz’s two-run homer down the left field line.
As Cairo trudged to the mound to make the pitching change, Gore stood with hands on hips, trying to process what had just happened. The eight runs allowed matched his career high. The 75 pitches he threw over 2 1/3 innings more than a bit excessive.
It was the first time Gore failed to complete three innings this season, the first time he’d failed to do so since an equally laborious outing against the Reds exactly one year ago. His ERA shot up from 3.02 to 3.59 in one start.
Faced with an 8-0 deficit, the Nationals already knew they were unlikely to claw their way back into this game, regardless of the opposing pitcher. It was particularly true with Pivetta on the mound for the Padres, duplicating his dominant showing from that previous matchup last month.
The long-ago Nats prospect traded to the Phillies in July 2015 for Jonathan Papelbon is enjoying the best season of his workmanlike career, and his best performances have come against the franchise that drafted him. Pivetta took the mound today in the bottom of the fifth having yet to give up a run in 11 innings against the Nationals, who to that point had totaled four singles and one walk off him.
Riley Adams finally snapped that shutout streak with a solo homer to right-center in the fifth, but that was far too little and far too late to make a tangible impact on today’s game.
The Nationals finished with only six hits, one of them James Wood’s line-drive single to right-center in the bottom of the sixth. The significance of that seemingly insignificant moment? It snapped Wood’s career-worst 0-for-20 slump.
The other saving grace of this otherwise lopsided affair? The Nationals managed not to burn up their bullpen, with Rutledge, Andry Lara and Cole Henry combining to toss the final 6 2/3 innings without surrendering a run.