Padres Announce Sudden Change to Starting Pitcher on Wednesday vs Giants

The San Diego Padres announced right-handed pitcher Bradgley Rodriguez will start Wednesday's series finale against the San Francisco Giants.

RHP Bradgley Rodriguez will start for the Padres today in San Francisco.
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 6, 2026

Right-handed pitcher Matt Waldron was initially expected to start the game. The reason for the change is currently unknown.

According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, though, Rodriguez is merely an opener for Waldron, who will still pitch on Wednesday. Since it's an early game, manager Craig Stammen won't be speaking to reporters beforehand to provide his reasoning for the change.

Bradgley Rodriguez will open for the Padres today.
Matt Waldron will pitch as well.
— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) May 6, 2026

The Padres have not used an opener strategy yet this season under first-year manager Craig Stammen. Rodriguez will become the eighth pitcher to start a game for the Padres this year, joining Nick Pivetta, Michael King, Randy Vásquez, Walker Buehler, Germán Márquez, Griffin Canning and Waldron.

Rodriguez is in the midst of a breakout year for San Diego, sporting a 1.62 ERA across 16.2 innings with 12 strikeouts to five walks. Of his 14 appearances, seven have been more than one inning.

It remains to be seen how many outs the Padres are hoping to get out of Rodriguez. It's possible they just want him to take down the first inning. It's also possible he pitches up to two innings.

Rodriguez has already faced the Giants twice this season, once in each series. He's allowed one hit over three innings with zero earned runs. He did allow two inherited runners to score in his first outing against them.

As for Waldron, he's struggled this season since being called upon to replace Pivetta. Across three starts, Waldron has pitched 13.2 innings, allowing 15 earned runs for a 9.88 ERA.

He is coming off his best start of the season, though, allowing three runs over five innings against the Chicago Cubs.

Opposite Rodriguez will be Giants right-hander Adrian Houser. He made his season debut against the Padres on April 1, allowing one earned run (three runs total) over 5.1 innings. That remains the best start of his 2026 campaign.

Overall, Houser is 0-3 with a 7.12 ERA. He's allowed at least three earned runs in every start since his outing against the Padres.

Padres Starting Lineup

Jackson Merrill, CF
Manny Machado, 3B
Miguel Andujar, DH
Gavin Sheets, 1B
Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
Ramón Laureano, LF
Nick Castellanos, RF
Freddy Fermin, C
Sung-Mun Song, SS

Xander Bogaerts is getting the day off, with Song moving to shortstop and Tatis to second base.

Laureano is back in the lineup and hitting sixth, with the top five of the order remaining the same from Tuesday.

How to Watch Padres vs Giants on Wednesday

First pitch for San Diego Padres vs. San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, May 6 is 12:45 p.m. PT/3:45 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on Padres.TV and in the MLB app.

The Padres announced that games will also be available via cable on the following channels:

Cox (Channel 83)
DirecTV (Channel 694-3)
AT&T Uverse (Channel 781 or 1781)
Spectrum (Channel 305 or 443)

Games will be broadcast on the radio on 97.3 The Fan (in English) and XEMO 860 (in Spanish).

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