Nick Pivetta was back on the Petco Park mound, out of the cold, dominant again.

And the Padres offense turned a gem into a nightmare for Germán Márquez, scoring six runs in the fifth inning en route to an 8-0 victory over the Rockies that kept them perfect in eight home games this season.

The victory also made the Padres 11-3, tying the 1998 team for the best 14-game start in franchise history and keeping the Padres with the best record in Major League Baseball despite them missing two members of their offensive core much of the week.

“Winners find solutions, and that’s what we look to do every day,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “It’s a club that’s got a lot of different pieces that can beat you a lot of different ways. I mean, today was a well-played game in all phases. Nick set the tone. But a lot of quality at-bats throughout.”

Pivetta, who allowed the Braves one baserunner over seven innings in his Padres debut here on March 30 and then lasted just three innings last Saturday against the Cubs at frigid Wrigley Field, no-hit all the Rockies except Kyle Farmer for seven innings Friday night.

The Padres were playing without second baseman Jake Cronenworth and center fielder Jackson Merrill, on the injured list with a fractured rib and strained right hamstring, respectively. Merrill has missed four games, Cronenworth two-and-a-half.

“We’re just going to have each other’s back no matter what,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “We have multiple ways to win a ballgame, and right now we’re clicking in every single area. So let’s keep it that way.”

The Padres did get Tatis back after he spent the previous game-and-half on the sideline with a sore left shoulder. He singled, stole a base and scored in the fifth inning, and his 391-foot home run into the Padres’ bullpen in the sixth inning gave the Padres a 7-0 lead.

Another solo homer, by Gavin Sheets in the seventh, provided the game’s final run.

The first half of Friday’s game offered no hints a rout was in store, as Márquez and Pivetta allowed a pair of hits apiece at the start — Márquez through four innings and Pivetta through five.

But half of the 12 batters the Padres sent to the plate in the fifth inning got hits, and Márquez was gone after facing nine batters in the inning.

Through three innings, each team had a double.

Farmer, the game’s second batter, sent a grounder just inside the bag at third base and along the side wall along the left field line, before Pivetta retired eight straight batters.

The Padres’ first hit was No.9 hitter Elias Díaz’s two-out double off the end of his bat grounded just inside the bag at first base and along the side wall in right field.

Farmer’s single leading off the fourth inning was the second hit against Pivetta. Sheet’s two-out single in the fourth was the Padres’ second hit against Márquez.

Their third hit would end up becoming their first run and leading to the Padres’ biggest inning of the season.

Xander Bogaerts hit Márquez’s first pitch of the fifth through the left side for a single, stole second and scored on Jose Iglesias’ single.

The Padres had runners at first and second with no outs when Jason Heyward’s swing hit catcher Hunter Goodman’s glove, and both moved runners up 90 feet on Brandon Lockridge’s sacrifice bunt.

Díaz drove both in with a single and went from first to third on a single by Tatis before Luis Arraez’s line drive to right field got Márquez his second out of the inning and his last out of the night.

Tatis took off on the first pitch to Manny Machado, and Goodman’s throw sailed about 10 feet over the head of Farmer, the second baseman, and into center field as Díaz jogged home.

Machado lined the next pitch down the line and over the side wall for a ground-rule double that made it 5-0.

A walk by Sheets ended Márquez’s night.

Bogaerts continued the inning by drawing a walk from reliever Angel Chivilli that loaded the bases before Iglesias’ second RBI hit of the inning — a dribbled ball to the left side that was too slow for third baseman Ryan McMahon to do anything but watch the runners all advance.

Pivetta mostly kept cruising through his final two innings before entrusting what would become the Padres’ fourth shutout (all at home) to Yuki Matsui and Alek Jacob.

The only stumble for Pivetta was when Farmer again doubled and Ezequiel Tovar walked with two outs in the sixth. But the 32-year-old right-hander ended his night with four consecutive outs. Among those were his ninth and 10th strikeouts, giving him his highest total in a game since July 17, 2023.

He became the first Padres pitcher to ever throw at least seven scoreless innings in both of his first two home starts for the club.

“It’s a great baseball park,” Pivetta said of Petco. “But I mean, it’s all about the team. Guys are doing what they do. We’re getting runs when we need them, defensive plays when we need them, and it’s just good team effort.”

This article was updated with postgame quotes.

Originally Published: April 11, 2025 at 8:51 PM PDT