San Diego Padres starting pitcher Nick Pivetta of Victoria, British Columbia recorded his 67th quality start of his Major League Baseball career on Sunday. He accomplished the feat in an 8-1 Padres win over the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington, District of Columbia.
Pivetta threw six innings, and gave up three hits, one earned run, and one walk, to go along with five strikeouts. He threw 87 pitches, of which 60 pitches were strikes. It was a surprisingly poor performance by Nationals All-Star and former Padres left-hander MacKenzie Gore. In two and a third innings, Gore gave up eight earned runs. Gore is currently second in the National League with 140 strikeouts.
Of Pivetta’s 67 quality starts, 12 now have come with the Padres. He had 36 with the Boston Red Sox, and 19 to begin his Major League Baseball career with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Pivetta is having a great season for the Padres and was a National League All-Star snub. He has a record of 10 wins and two losses with an earned run average of 2.81 and a major league leading .833 winning percentage. During 20 games and 115 1/3 innings pitched, Pivetta has given up 85 hits, 36 earned runs, 13 home runs and 30 walks, to go along with 127 strikeouts and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.00.
The Padres are in second place in the National League West with a record of 54 wins and 45 losses. They trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by three and a half games, and lead the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants by two and a half games for the final wildcard spot.
