Padres Announce Starting Pitchers vs Nationals, Including Exciting Nick Pivetta Return

The San Diego Padres are looking to continue their winning ways as they welcome the Washington Nationals into town for three games.

The Padres (75-68) are coming off a series win over the New York Yankees. They remain a half-game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final wild-card spot in the National League.

As for the Nationals (67-78), they've fallen out of the playoff race since the trade deadline, and are now looking ahead to next year. They've lost four in a row after being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Padres and Nationals played three games in Washington D.C. from May 29-31, with San Diego losing two of them.

Padres vs Nationals Pitching Probables

Monday, Sept. 7: RHP Nick Pivetta vs. RHP Jake Irvin

Manager Craig Stammena announced that Pivetta is coming off the 60-day injured list on Monday to make his long-awaited return to the Padres rotation.

Pivetta exited his fourth start of the season on April 12 with an elbow injury, and has been on the IL ever since. He had a 4.50 ERA with 24 strikeouts over 16 innings this season.

“His last outing, seeing the fastball command that he had and the command of all his pitches — his curveball got a little bit better, got his pitch count up to a spot that we felt comfortable bringing him up to the big leagues and seeing what he has," Stammen said on Sunday. "And then this is his chance to kind of get started, and then we’ll go from there with what the plan is after that.”

When Pivetta abruptly walked off the mound during his first rehab outing on Aug. 4, there was concern his season was over. However, a month later, he's returning just in time to help the team's postseason push.

As for Irvin, he's 2-8 with a 5.57 ERA across 18 starts this season. He has 87 strikeouts to 40 walks over 85.2 innings of work.

Tuesday, Sept. 8: RHP Casey Mize vs. TBD

Mize is set to make his seventh start as a Padre on Tuesday, and will be looking for better results.

After sporting a 2.70 ERA over 16 starts (86.2 innings) with the Detroit Tigers, Mize owns a 6.67 ERA across 27 innings with San Diego. He has just 15 strikeouts to nine walks and has given up eight home runs with the Friars.

The Nationals are yet to announce a starter against Mize, but will likely go with a bullpen game. Right-handed pitcher Brad Lord opened in this spot in the rotation last week, pitching 3.1 scoreless innings.

Wednesday, Sept. 9: RHP Walker Buehler vs. LHP Jackson Kent

Buehler gets the ball in the series finale looking to continue his run of consistent play.

The right-hander has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his last nine starts. The Padres are 7-2 in that stretch.

Overall, Buehler is 8-6 with a 4.56 ERA across 28 starts this season.

As for Kent, he made his MLB debut on Aug. 12 and now has five career starts in the big leagues. The left-hander is 1-3 with a 5.55 ERA over 24.1 innings.

How to Watch Padres vs Nationals September 7-9

First pitch for Monday's series opener is 2:10 p.m. PT/5:10 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Padres.TV and in the MLB app.

First pitch for Tuesday's game is 6:40 p.m. PT/9:40 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Padres.TV and in the MLB app.

First pitch for Wednesday's series finale is 1:10 p.m. PT/4:10 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Padres.TV and in the MLB app.

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