San Diego’s teenage prodigy anchors the defense behind Nick Pivetta, as the Padres look to sweep the Cubs following a dominant shutout performance at Petco Park.
The San Diego Padres had no issues with a dominant 8-0 shutout win over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the Wild Card series on Tuesday night.
Michael King allowed just one hit and didn't surrender a base hit until the sixth in another magical Wild Card start.
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a home run on the first Cubs' pitch, and Manny Machado added another HR in the same inning.
Xander Bogaerts hit a home run, and Tatis showed off his spectacular baserunning skills as San Diego cruised to a victory.
And, there was a Joe Musgrove sighting, as the veteran made his first appearance in two seasons and shut the door in the ninth inning in an electric scene at Petco Park.
So, what did manager Craig Stammen do for the lineup for Game 2?
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Dustin Harris, LF
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Ty France, 1B
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Ethan Salas, C
- Austin Hays, DH
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
Nick Pivetta gets the start, and Salas makes history as the youngest catcher in MLB history to catch a postseason game.
The Cubs are starting veteran Kevin Gausman, although many were surprised it wasn't Clay Holmes.
Some Surprises
For one, not having Samad Taylor, Gavin Sheets or Miguel Andujar in the lineup came off as a bit of a surprise.
Hays getting the nod at DH over Sheets is also a surprise, although Stammen revealed it is because of Hays' numbers against Gausman.
Sheets just came off the IL and Andujar was in Triple-A for some time, so it makes some sense for Stammen to have those veterans off the bench in case of a high-leverage situation.
On Tuesday, Stammen had Taylor in the No. 2 spot with Campusano hitting 9th, but he wants to give Salas a start, and he has consistently done well while catching Pivetta.
The bats came alive on Tuesday as all of Tatis, Machado, Bogaerts, France and Merrill had two hits apiece, and they had 13 hits as a team.
The Padres also didn't use any of Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, Bradgley Rodriguez, or even Jason Adam, so Stammen has a fresh pen.
If he can get five solid innings out of Pivetta, it could set the stage for Mason Miller to potentially close out the series in front of a jam-packed Petco Park crowd on Wednesday night.
