Forty-five minutes before first pitch on Tuesday, the Padres placed Mason Miller on the paternity list. Their closer, the man with 38 saves in 41 chances and a fastball that regularly touches 104 mph, was unavailable for a Division Series game San Diego had to win.
Michael King, who started Game 2, pitched the last two innings on one day of rest and got the save in a 4-3 win. It was his first save since 2023.
That is not a bullpen plan. That is a starting pitcher volunteering.
King had already thrown a lot of baseball
He threw 169 pitches across seven innings against the Cubs a week earlier, then five innings against Milwaukee on Sunday. Then 40 more pitches on Tuesday. He gave up a hit in the eighth to pinch-hitter David Hamilton and walked two in the ninth, and Craig Stammen left him in anyway.
King’s explanation was the best quote of the night. “I know that I have bullets in my arm that I don’t want to save,” he said.
Before San Diego made him a full-time starter ahead of 2024, following the Juan Soto trade, King had seven saves and 24 games finished across 115 appearances in five Yankees seasons. He is not a reliever. He pitched like one because the alternative was losing.
Miller’s absence had already cost them once
Miller blew a ninth-inning save in Game 2, walking three before Jackson Chourio’s two-out, two-run single landed on his 40th pitch. His season numbers are still absurd: 5-2 with 38 saves, a 0.90 WHIP and 129 strikeouts in 70 innings.
Pitching coach Ruben Niebla said the team expects him back for Game 4. The paternity list carries a minimum of one day and a maximum of three.
Stammen credited the group rather than the individual. “It was a chance for the other guys to pick those two up,” he said. “All the other guys stepped up and did their job today.” Manny Machado was more specific about King: “He definitely showed up today for us and closed it out. It wasn’t easy.”
Nick Pivetta did not help
San Diego’s starter faltered in the fifth, and three relievers were needed to cover eight outs before King. Jake Cronenworth’s first-pitch homer off JoJo Romero in the fifth put the Padres ahead, and a run-scoring error by Brewers rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt in the sixth made it 4-2.
Jackson Merrill made two run-saving catches in center, the first of them robbing Chourio to open the game.
San Diego is winning on parts it did not plan to use
Machado is hitting .375 with a 1.212 OPS in this series. Fernando Tatis Jr. is 1-for-18 since Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. Gavin Sheets was scratched from the lineup with neck stiffness. Adrian Morejon has shoulder discomfort, and the team has not said he is unavailable.
Every game in this series has been a one-run game. Milwaukee leads 2-1 and has won 103 games. San Diego is still alive because a starting pitcher threw 40 pitches out of the bullpen two days after throwing five innings.
Walker Buehler, activated from the paternity list two days earlier, starts Game 4. He has a 3.04 ERA across 19 career postseason outings. The Padres will take competence wherever it shows up.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.