Padres minors: Lucas Giolito makes third start

Lucas Giolito moved a step closer to joining the Padres' rotation.

At some point, he'll have to begin the fine-tuning stage of this ramp-up.

The 31-year-old right-hander pushed his pitch count to 78 over four innings in Double-A San Antonio's 10-5 win over visiting Midland on Tuesday.

Giolito allowed five runs - three earned - on eight hits and two walks in four innings. He struck out one and allowed two homers.

The start was Giolito's third in the minors since signing a big-league deal with the Padres. He has to be added to the big-league roster by May 16, but he's got a 6.55 ERA across three starts (11 IP), including two at low Single-A Lake Elsinore, as he ramps up ahead of joining the Padres' rotation.

Giolito has struck out 12, walked six and allowed opposing hitters a .306 batting average across his three minor league starts. He threw 63 pitches in 2⅔ innings in his first start and 70 pitches in 4⅓ innings in his second start.

Giolito went 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA, 121 strikeouts and a 1.29 WHIP across 26 starts (145 innings) last year for the Boston Red Sox.

Right-hander Victor Lizarraga (1-3, 8.27 ERA) followed Giolito's exit with five shutout innings for the win.

Right fielder Tirso Ornelas (.751 OPS) hit his fifth homer, designated hitter Leandro Cedeno (1.097 OPS) hit his third homer and second baseman Ryan Jackson (.634 OPS) hit his first homer.

Cedeno drove in three runs on two hits, including a double, and catcher Ethan Salas (1.001 OPS) went 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

San Antonio is 8-20.

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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 7:59 PM.