SAN DIEGO -- Michael King needed this one. The Padres’ starting rotation needed it, too.
Much has been said about San Diego’s offensive struggles to this point, but the rotation has started to show cracks, as well. But as King proved in the Padres’ 1-0 win over the Braves on Monday night at Petco Park, every fifth day has the chance to be a reset with a pitcher like him on the mound.
King delivered seven scoreless innings in an efficient start that saw him land 62 of his 93 total pitches for strikes. It’s a step forward from what has been a turbulent stretch for King, who entered the evening carrying a 6.41 ERA over his previous five starts.
“Definitely trending -- still a lot of work to do,” King said. “I was tired of getting beaten up out there. Got a little bit away from the mechanical feel and was just competing out there. And I know the mechanics will get there, but I always felt like one of my strengths was being able to figure it out on the fly and working with what I got, and I got away from that the last four or five starts.”
King’s recent struggles had a lot to do with lacking sinker command -- that wasn’t the case Monday.
The right-hander landed his primary offering for a strike at a 78% clip, allowing him to work off of it effectively with his changeup, sweeper and four-seamer. He allowed six hits and didn’t walk a batter for the second time this season.
He allowed a trio of hits through the first two frames before retiring 10 in a row, a stretch that included a nice running grab at the wall in center by Jackson Merrill in the fourth inning on a well-struck ball by Michael Harris II. King later staved off a scoring threat in the sixth, stranding Matt Olson representing the tying run at third base.
After allowing a leadoff single to Austin Riley to begin the seventh, King punctuated his outing by retiring Dominic Smith, Mike Yastrzemski and Jorge Mateo in order, getting the latter to swing over a nasty changeup below the zone for his fifth strikeout. King registered 11 whiffs, five of which came on his change.
“He found his stuff tonight,” manager Craig Stammen said. “Had good [sinker] command, had the changeup working, sweeper was going good, too. Any time he gave up a hit he got right back at the next couple hitters and got them out.”
A fourth-inning solo home run by third baseman Manny Machado ended up being all that King, left-hander Adrian Morejon and closer Mason Miller needed to nail down the Padres’ 40th victory to open an important homestand against the two best teams in the sport in the Braves (48-29) and the Dodgers (50-29).
The aforementioned offensive woes are a large reason why San Diego has scuffled much of the last two months, but it’s the rotation’s inconsistencies and overall lack of depth that have started catching up to it, as well.
Padres starters entered the evening sporting a 4.60 ERA in the month of June, while averaging roughly 4 2/3 innings per start.
Lucas Giolito and Griffin Canning have produced troublesome results. Randy Vásquez, who was such a boon for the Padres early in the season, has come back down to earth. Walker Buehler has been sharp over the last month, but he alone can’t anchor the group.
King can.
Since inking a three-year, $75 million pact to keep him in San Diego this past offseason, King has expressed his desire to be “the guy” for the Padres’ rotation. On numerous occasions over the past two and half years, he has shown he can be.
“Throughout this little stretch we’ve had where we haven’t played as good as we did at the beginning of the year, we’ve been looking when Michael King starts for him to stop it for us, and tonight he definitely did that,” Stammen said. “That’s what we’ve become accustomed to with him. His little funk coincided with our team’s funk.
“Tonight he showed why we feel really comfortable with him.”
Ultimately, if the Padres aspire to remain in postseason contention through the end of the season, they need Monday’s version of King as much as they can get it, especially against the league’s best.
King feels there’s still plenty more he can improve upon.
“I was 1-0, 2-0 to a lot of guys,” King said. “I was able to execute in those 2-0 hitter-advantage counts. … You know me, I’m never going to be fully happy with an outing. So I’m probably overanalyzing it right now. I’ll continue to grind and try to say it was better for the next start.”