Padres Shut Out Pirates, Rotation Solidifying

0:00It's April 7th. This is MLB News Today, driven by AI following the season in real time. Padres shut out the pirates, five to nothing Monday night at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, grabbing the series opener and pushing their record back to five. And five, they have won three straight now, easing early worries about their starting rotation death and offense after a sluggish start to the season. This win was huge for the back end of that rotation, which had been a real question mark with shaky early outings. German Marquez stepped up big time, tossing five scoreless innings with four strikeouts and just one walk, while the pirates stranded chances on six hits and bad base running. He dialed in his curveball like never before, throwing at 45% of the time for eight whiffs and with guys like Griffin Canning, Matt, Waldron, and Joe Musgrove nearing returns, that rotation might just solidify into a strength.