King's quality start reigns supreme in Padres' win vs. Giants
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SAN FRANCISCO – Its beginning took an inauspicious tone, but by the time Michael King’s afternoon was finished, he’d put together another stellar start of the sort the Padres have come to expect from the right-hander this season.
Despite his career-best 21 2/3-inning scoreless streak ending just two batters into the bottom of the first on Rafael Devers’ two-run homer, King powered through, laying the groundwork for San Diego’s 7-6 win over the Giants on Saturday at Oracle Park.
It was the sixth straight win for the Padres, who remain hot as they seek to create more distance between themselves and the Diamondbacks in the National League Wild Card picture – and they continue applying pressure to the Phillies and Cubs, who began the day just 2 1/2 games ahead of San Diego for each of the top two Wild Card spots.
Shay Whitcomb got to King for a homer on a hanging sweeper in the second, though that concluded the damage King allowed on the day. He shook off those early issues, retiring 14 straight after the Whitcomb blast and 18 of 19 overall between Devers’ homer and Jonah Cox’s single leading off the seventh.
The picture of efficiency after those early blips, King only faced four batters over the minimum, finishing his day with 96 pitches across seven innings, with five hits, four strikeouts and zero walks.
San Diego scored in five of the first six innings, a cushion that proved valuable when Bradgley Rodriguez allowed the Giants to get back into the game with a pair of homers in the bottom of the eighth. Called upon to defuse any thoughts of a late-game disaster, Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller nailed down the victory.
As for that early offense, Dustin Harris stayed hot with a two-out, two-run single in the second, Jackson Merrill homered in the third, Samad Taylor sparked another run in the fourth by bunting for a single, hustling to third on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s infield hit and scoring on Harris’ sac fly.
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Jake Cronenworth’s two-out squeeze bunt in the fifth plated another run, while Tatis clubbed a homer of his own in the sixth.
For Merrill, his home run was his 25th of the season, a new career high that put him in an exclusive group of players with 25+ homers and 25+ steals this season, joining the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong, the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz and the Nationals’ CJ Abrams.