Ex-Red Sox Pitcher Having Wildly Underrated Season For Padres

The Boston Red Sox take on the San Diego Padres this weekend in a pivotal showdown between two of the hottest teams in baseball.

Both teams enter this weekend’s series at Petco Park on fire. Since July 1, the Red Sox are 21-8 (best in the American League), while the Padres are 19-12 (second-best in the National League). They’re both in playoff position and have nearly identical records.

Boston will face two former Red Sox players in Friday’s series opener: Xander Bogaerts and Nick Pivetta.

Bogaerts has had a down season by his standards, batting .271/.340/.398 with nine homers and 40 RBI in 113 games. The veteran shortstop is off to a great start in August, however, slashing .333/.346/.625 with two homers and eight hits in six games this month.

Meanwhile, Pivetta might be the most underrated pitcher in baseball this year.

What a season from Nick Pivetta pic.twitter.com/gQsUCPRA9u

— brent says go Padres, go SDFC 🟡 (@realbrentreed) August 2, 2025

After four and a half solid seasons with Boston, the 32-year-old righty is enjoying the best season of his career in his first year with San Diego. In 22 starts, he’s 11-3 with a 2.73 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP and the lowest hit rate (6.2 H/9) in the NL. He also has 4.0 WAR and 136 strikeouts in 128 2/3 innings.

While Paul Skenes and Zack Wheeler are the frontrunners for the NL Cy Young Award, Pivetta belongs in the conversation and will likely receive down-ballot votes. And yet, nobody seems to be talking about him. He wasn’t even an All-Star this year.

This will be Pivetta’s first time facing the Red Sox since leaving them for the Padres. He signed a four-year, $55 million deal with San Diego last offseason, which already looks like a huge bargain.

Pivetta has allowed just five earned runs over his last seven starts (1.01 ERA), but he’ll be tested by Boston’s sizzling bats. The Red Sox are averaging 6.6 runs over their last eight games, going 7-1 in that span.

Pivetta will face Walker Buehler, whom the Padres know well from his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Buehler has struggled this year (6-6, 5.74 ERA) but has dominated San Diego throughout his career, going 6-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 12 starts against his former NL West rivals.

But if Boston wants to win on Friday night, it has to find a way to score some runs against Pivetta, who’s 7-0 with a 1.99 ERA in 12 starts at Petco Park this year.