The San Diego Padres won’t have their offensive catalyst for at least a week.
First baseman Luis Arraez was placed on the 7-day injured list and is in concussion protocol after colliding with Houston’s Mauricio Dubon during a bunt attempt on Sunday.
In their first game without Arraez, the Padres dropped the opener of a three-game series in Detroit on Monday night, 6-4. The second game is Tuesday night.
The Padres were already playing without Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, Brandon Lockridge and Jason Heyward, who are all rehabbing from a variety of injuries.
“Overall, very favorable relative to how scary that looked and was,” manager Mike Shildt said of Arraez. “He woke up, slept well. As you would expect, he has some stiffness in his neck, but nothing cognitively is anything we’re overly concerned about. He is going to go, rightfully so, in concussion protocol. More tests are going to be done — hopefully more out of caution than necessity.”
Right-hander Jack Flaherty will start the middle game of the series for Detroit. He has a 2-1 record and 4.45 ERA in six career outings against the Padres.
Flaherty (1-1, 2.53 ERA) hasn’t pitched since last Tuesday, when he gave up three runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings in a 5-0 loss in Milwaukee.
“Completely out of sync,” he said. “I wasn’t able to command the zone, was all over the place, wasn’t controlling counts, wasn’t putting guys away, wasn’t getting ahead. Put it all together and it doesn’t add up to a good result.”
Flaherty was originally scheduled to pitch the series opener. Manager A.J. Hinch decided to give him and other members of the staff more time between their April starts.
“Jack knew he was going to pitch on Monday or Tuesday, kind of depending on how the weekend has gone,” Hinch said. “Casey (Mize) logging seven innings (Saturday) was a huge boost to that plan, giving him extra rest as well. It’s all interconnected, but the goal is to give guys, routinely, extra rest.”
Flaherty will have to come up with a plan against Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. In 10 at-bats against Flaherty, Tatis has seven hits, including four doubles and two solo home runs.
San Diego right-hander Nick Pivetta, Flaherty’s mound opponent, has gotten off to a strong start with his new team. The former Boston starter signed a four-year contract as a free agent during the offseason. In three of his four starts, he’s allowed one or no runs while lasting at least six innings.
In his most recent outing on Wednesday, Pivetta (3-1, 1.57) held the Chicago Cubs to one run and four hits in six innings with six strikeouts.
“I’m commanding my fastball, really using my spin when I need to, getting ahead of guys,” Pivetta said. “When I fell behind a guy, walked a guy — I gave up a run. Obviously, I was able to limit that damage, let our offense come back and steal the show.”
He’s 1-2 with a 3.15 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against the Tigers.
