Michael King stellar as Padres shut out Braves in playoff opener

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Oct 1, 2024

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — Michael King was every bit as good in his first postseason start as he had been in his first season as a full-time starting pitcher.

Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a home run in his first playoff at-bat in front of fans at Petco Park.

Kyle Higashioka drove in a run with a sacrifice fly early and another with a home run late.

The Padres won a game that was gift-wrapped for them.

They struck quickly against a Triple-A pitcher and then their most consistent pitcher struck out a lot of batters, as they essentially cruised to a 4-0 victory over the Braves in Game 1 of their National League wild-card series on Tuesday night.

Tatis’ two-run homer in the first inning sent the ballpark brimming with 47,647 fans into a gold towel-waving tizzy. And the biggest crowd in Petco Park history made almost as much noise for each of King’s five inning-ending strikeouts and again when he walked off the field after the top of the seventh inning having struck out a dozen batters in all.

King’s seven scoreless innings, in which he allowed five hits, made him just the third pitcher in franchise history to have gone that long in a postseason game without allowing a run. He joined Kevin Brown (nine innings and eight innings in 1998) and Joe Musgrove (seven innings in 2022).

Musgrove will start Game 2 on Wednesday with a chance for the Padres to move on to the National League Division Series, where they would face the Dodgers.

Tuesday was a game the Padres practically had to win.

A team doesn’t get set up like this in the postseason very often.

The Braves had to win the second game of a doubleheader against the Mets on Monday to clinch their postseason berth. Their flight that touched down in San Diego around midnight did not have Chris Sale on board, as the presumptive NL Cy Young winner is sidelined by back spasms.

The combination of being down a starter and having played two makeup games the day before left the Braves with a void they filled by making AJ Smith-Shawver their starter for Game 1.

The 21-year-old right-hander began and finished the season in Triple-A. In between, he started one big league game and spent two months on the IL with an oblique strain.

He was gone after getting four outs and with the Padres up 3-0 in the second inning.

After Luis Arraez led off the bottom of the first with a single to left field, Tatis gave the Padres a 2-0 lead with a home run on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first inning.

The pitch was a 94-mph fastball down the middle. The ball left Tatis’ bat at 112.8 mph and sailed 154 feet in the air and a projected 415 feet and into the second deck of seats beyond left field.

Tatis was 4 for 11 in the Padres’ wild-card series win over the Cardinals here in 2020, but there were no fans allowed in the ballpark due to COVID restrictions.

The Padres added a run in the second inning when Jake Cronenworth was hit by the first pitch of the second inning, Donovan Solano followed with a single that sent Cronenworth to third and Higashioka hit a sacrifice fly to center field.

That was it for Smith-Shawver, who was replaced by left-hander Aaron Bummer.

The Padres did not get a hit and had just one baserunner from the time Smith-Shawver left until Higashioka’s home run off Luke Jackson leading off the bottom of the eighth inning.

Arraez grounded into an inning-ending double play to end the second. And after walking Tatis to start the third, Bummer got out of that inning on a fly ball out by Profar and a double-play grounder by Manny Machado.

He was 12 pitches in at that point and, despite an eight-pitch at-bat at the start, got through the third having thrown 28 pitches in all.

It was a much-needed reprieve for the Braves pitching staff.

Every member of their bullpen worked Monday, and their two highest-leverage relievers pitched in both games against the Mets.

They ended up having to use just two more pitchers Tuesday.

The Padres got a scoreless eighth inning from Jason Adam, who struck out the first two batters he faced before Ozzie Albies singled and stole second base. Adams then struck out No.3 batter Marcel Ozuna.

Robert Suarez allowed just a one-out single in the ninth.