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Within a span of six months, things changed a lot for San Diego Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada. Back in November, the Chicago Cubs waived him. The Padres ultimately picked Estrada up but only a month ago, he was pitching in Triple-A.
Well, on Tuesday night, he set a record that's never been done in the expansion era, striking out 13 consecutive hitters. Estrada sat down all three Miami Marlins hitters he faced in the ninth inning in the 4-0 victory and spoke on how surreal this moment has been for him.
Via AP Sports:
“It's kind of hard to believe,” said Estrada, 25, who is from the Palm Springs area. “I feel like I just got done playing a video game and I finally accomplished a mission that I've been trying to go after for so long.”
“It's hard for it to sink in right now. I just feel like I did my job and we got the win,” said Estrada.
The Padres called up Estrada from Triple-A on April 26th and since then, he's proceeded to go 2-0 in 16.1 innings, posting a 0.55 ERA and striking out 28 in the process. Estrada has also walked just four hitters. The youngster has been a reliable arm for San Diego who comes in and pounds the strike zone. All 13 of the K's were swinging, too.
New weapon for Padres
Estrada made his big league debut back in 2022 but barely pitched across the last two seasons with the Cubs. Injuries were a common occurrence for him in his career up to this point, which limited his time in the Majors. Estrada made the Opening Day roster for Seoul but the Padres demoted him in late March.
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“I knew how it felt to be in the dark, knowing that it was a tough thing to get through, but that's where you find things,” he said. “I knew that I wanted something bad, which was of course to make this team.
“I wouldn't for sure have accomplished what I accomplished today without the vibes here, the coaches here, the staff. It's all about good vibes,” he added.
Estrada has an electric fastball that averages 96.9 mph, per Baseball Savant. He throws that pitch 54.3% of the time, while his splitter, which has wonderful movement, is Estrada's most used secondary offering. He's struck out 13 of 17 hitters with the splitter. It's a putaway pitch.
The Padres' bullpen ranks seventh in the show with a 3.46 ERA and Estrada has clearly been a huge help. Robert Suarez typically closes out games but after back-to-back appearances, Mike Schildt gave Estrada the opportunity to step into the ninth-inning role on Tuesday. Needless to say, he did his job.
This impressive record just goes to show how special Estrada is and he's going to be an important piece of this staff as the season rolls on here. When Suarez is either struggling or needs rest, Schildt has another legitimate option to close. If not, he's the perfect set-up man.
San Diego is now riding a three-game winning streak and sits two games above .500. They continue their series with the Marlins on Wednesday afternoon.
