Sunday’s series finale between the Padres and Angels gave us a fascinating contrast in pitching styles. San Diego went with Michael King, who throws half a dozen pitches and none of them are straight. Los Angeles countered with 22-year-old Walbert Urena making the first start of his MLB career. Urena throws three pitches and all of them are hard, highlighted by his 100 MPH fastball.
Both starters were effective. King was just a little bit better in a 2-1 Padres win, giving them their fifth straight series win and running their record to 15-7.
King had a few bouts of wildness, issuing four walks and hitting a batter to put himself in a few stressful situations. But, he made pitches when it mattered most. King struck out six and allowed just one hit over 5.0 shutout innings. He also got some help from a bit of bad Angels baserunning.
In the 1st inning, LA had runners at the corners. Nolan Schanuel took off from 1st base before King started his motion so he calmly stepped off and threw to Fernando Tatis Jr. at 2nd base for a free out. Zach Neto was also caught stealing when Tatis, who had the most eventful day of his career at 2nd base, made a nice pick of a Luis Campusano throw and put the tag down to wipe out another Angels scoring threat.
The Padres finally broke through in the 4th inning with a mini-rally. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a single, stole 2nd base, and scored on a Xander Bogaerts RBI single to make it 1-0. The rookie largely cruised the rest of the way, striking out eight through the first six innings. But, he seemed to tire in the 7th.
Urena walked Bogaerts on five pitches then threw four straight balls to Gavin Sheets. Those were the first two walks he issued all day and one of them would prove costly. Sam Bachman came on and got the first two hitters he faced before Johnson lined a single to left field, bringing home Bogaerts and pumping the Padres lead up to 2-0.
Kyle Hart ran into trouble in the bottom half. Oswald Peraza led off with a double off the left field wall then the San Diego lefty plunked Travis d’Arnauld in the ankle. Former Friar Adam Frazier bunted the runners up and Padres manager Criag Stammen went to Bradgley Rodriguez to keep the damage to a minimum.
The rookie did just that. Neto brought home Peraza with a grounder to Bogaerts to make it a 2-1 game then the Friars wisely walked Mike Trout intentionally. Rodriguez got Schanuel to fly out harmlessly to Jackson Merrill in centerfield to end the inning.
Rodriguez also worked a perfect 8th inning, setting up Mason Miller in the 9th. In baseball today he’s as sure a thing as death and taxes. Miller shut down the Angels, striking out a pair, for his 8th save of the year.
San Diego has a day off on Monday before starting a three-game series against the Rockies at Coors Field.
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