Padres' Nick Pivetta Dealing With Elbow Injury in Concerning Development

San Diego Padres right-handed pitcher Nick Pivetta exited his start on Sunday early with what the team described as right elbow stiffness.

Pivetta had retired the first nine batters he faced in order, but was forced to walk off the mound in the bottom of the fourth inning in a concerning development for San Diego.

The right-hander didn't have much information to share after Sunday's game, a 7-2 win for San Diego.

“I think it’s too early to tell for me,” Pivetta said. “I just tried to go out there, do the best I could, get as deep in the baseball game as I possibly could. Obviously, didn’t feel good. I came out of the game. But the bullpen picked me up. Team did a great job. A lot of home runs, a lot of great plays. Was able to get a really good sweep and build some good momentum as well.”

Pivetta dealt with arm fatigue in spring training that led the Padres to skip one of his starts. However, he was able to take the ball on Opening Day, and seemed to be improving with each start. That was until Sunday.

Manager Craig Stammen said after the game that in addition to the elbow stiffness, Pivetta was also under the weather on Sunday. That could have contributed to him overall not feeling great.

“To be honest, I’m perplexed,” Pivetta said. “[The] human body is different. People feel things differently. I’m just trying to process it, work through it myself. I think the next coming days, I’ll probably see how it feels and be able to dictate what type of plan I want moving forward.”

While there's obviously initial concern for Pivetta and a Padres rotation that is already lacking in depth, Stammen was optimistic on a potential return to action sooner rather than later.

“We’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” Stammen said. “There’s a world where he makes his next start. So I think we’re optimistic that we caught it the right time, and then he just needs a little breather, maybe get healthy and get some vitamin C in him, and we’ll feel a little bit better.”

A Pivetta injury is something the Padres cannot afford amid the question marks in their rotation. While the Padres rotation has been much better in this most recent turn, Pivetta was the team's best pitcher last year, and is expected to be the same this year.

“Any time it's someone's elbow, especially a pitcher, it's reason for caution,” Stammen said. “And that's probably why we took him out of the game when we did.”

The Padres are off on Monday, meaning the next update we should get regarding Pivetta will likely come on Tuesday ahead of their series opener against the Seattle Mariners. If Pivetta is forced to miss time, right-hander Matt Waldron is the most likely candidate to take his spot in the rotation.