The San Diego Padres are one win away from advancing to the National League Division Series after taking Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Atlanta Braves, 4-0. Winning the series would send the Padres against long-time rivals Los Angeles Dodgers, NL West champions. For now, the Padres have to thank pitcher Michael King for his stellar performance, becoming the first pitcher to get 12 strikeouts while allowing zero runs and zero walks in his first career playoff start.
As thanks, Padres fans dug out one of King's tweets from 2011 that accurately captured his play against the Braves on Tuesday.
“I had a dream i was king… i woke up still king,” the Padres pitcher had posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Game 1 NL Wild Card: Padres def. Braves
With his performance vs. the Braves, Michael King joined fellow Padres pitchers Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock as the only pitchers who logged double-digit strikeouts in a postseason game.
Last December, the New York Yankees received Juan Soto from the Padres in exchange for King and other players, and this trade seemed to have paid off for both teams.
King had debuted in the postseason with the Yankees in the AL playoff bubble in 2020, pitching two innings in Game 3 against the Tampa Bay Rays, who won the Division Series in five games.
Besides King, the Padres also saw Fernando Tatis, Jr. shine with a two-run homer in his return to the playoffs. Tatis had missed a few months this season because of a stress reaction in his right thighbone, but his return 415-foot shot sent the sellout crowd at Petco Park into a frenzy.
Moreover, this game is even more special for the 25-year-old pitcher since it's his first playoff game with fans in the stands. He had entered the playoffs for the first time in 2020, a season shortened by the pandemic.
Two seasons later, Tatis received an 80-game PED suspension from the league, missing the Padres' run to the 2022 NL Championship Series, having eliminated the 111-win Dodgers in the NLDS.
Tatis' homer also happened on the anniversary of his two home-runs in a 2020 Wild Card Series game against the St. Louis Cardinals, under manager Mike Shildt, now in his first season as skipper for the Padres.
Injuries and outlook
Meanwhile, the Braves are without 2024 Cy Young Award favorite Chris Sale for this Wild Card series vs. the Padres, scratched late against the New York Mets with back spasms. Sale would have helped out rookie AJ Smith-Shawver, who allowed three runs and four hits in 1 1/3 innings.
By defeating the Braves in Game 1, the Padres were the only one of four home teams that won their playoff opener on Tuesday.
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