The San Diego Padres had a chance to sweep the Athletics, but Michael King wasn't up to the task.
The San Diego Padres were hoping to cap off a home three-game sweep against the Athletics today, but starter Michael King had his first genuine bad outing for the Padres, and the A’s were able to cash in and get a 5-2 win to salvage the series finale.
This was one of those games for King. He struggled to command his changeup and sinker early, and Carlos Cortes made him pay by opening the game with a home run to right center.
The second inning was worse for King. He walked Zach Gelof, and Henry Bolte doubled to left to drive in Gelof. A single from Alina Williams drove in Bolte to plate the second run of the inning and put the Padres down 3-0.
The A’s added another run in the fourth by capitalizing on King’s wildness. Jonah Heim started the action with a double to right, and walks to Jeff McNeil and Bolte loaded the bases. King himself then got the run home with a wild pitch to make it 4-0, and shortly after tat another walk convinced Padres manager that King was done for the day.
The A’s went with an opener in this one, with right-hander Luis Medina first up to set up Jacob Lopez. Lopez got the job done to get the win despite some shaky moments as he managed to work his way out of a couple of precarious jams.
The Padres finally got on the board in the sixth with a double by Miguel Andujar and a sacrifice fly by Manny Machado. They got their second run in the seventh on a solo homer by Ty France, and second-tier Padres relievers Rod Marinaccio, Wanda Peralta did a good job of holding the A’s scoreless.
Bradgley Rodriguez stumbled in the ninth, however, as he allowed the A’s to pad their lead on an RBI single from Tyler Soderstrom that scored pinch-runner Lawrence Butler as he subbed in for Cortes after Cortes singled and Nick Kurtz also singled to get Butler to third.
Hogan Harris was the closer of the day for the A’s, who work by committee, and Harris made things interesting in the ninth inning as he walked Jackson Merrill and Ramon Laureano. But Hogan rebounded to strike out France, and Scott Barlow came on to strike out Nick Castellanos and get Fernando Tatis Jr. on a fly ball to right to end the game.
Tatis had a three-hit game, and that ninth inning moment would have been the perfect spot for his long-awaited first home run of the year. But he fell short once again, leaving King to take the loss after his bad outing.
The Padres get right back at it tomorrow against the Philadelphia Phillies, with Randy Vasquez taking the ball against Jesus Lazardo.
