After shutting down the Braves in his Padres debut, Pivetta wasn’t able to quiet the hot-hitting Cubs on Saturday, going just three innings in the loss. After a scoreless first frame, his control got away from him with three walks and a base hit in the second, bringing two runs in for Chicago. Dansby Swanson took him deep for a solo homer in the third. An error and two hits loaded the bases before Pivetta struck out the final two batters to limit any more damage. The 32-year-old right-hander will look to bounce back in a good matchup against the Rockies in San Diego on Friday.

Pivetta struck out four opposing hitters on the night and didn’t walk a batter. The only baserunner that he allowed was a leadoff single by Orlando Arcia in the third inning, and he wound up getting erased on a double play. Pivetta got eight swings and misses on 82 pitches on the night, half of them on his fastball, while posting a CSW of 29 percent. He’s not going to be this brilliant every time out, but there’s no reason to expect that the 32-year-old right-hander won’t be a strong weekly contributor in fantasy leagues this season pitching in the spacious confines of Petco Park. His next challenge will come against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Saturday.

Pivetta allowed just one hit — a third inning single to Jake Burger — while walking a pair of batters. He generated nine swings and misses on 76 pitches in the contest — five of those on his heater — while registering a CSW of 24 percent. Pivetta has alternated terrific and disaster starts so far this preseason, combining for a strong 3.38 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and a 17/7 K/BB ratio across 13 1/3 innings.