Tatis hits 2-run homer, King strikes out 12 because the Padres beat the Braves 4-0 in playoff opener
SAN DIEGO (AP) Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a towering two-run homer on his first playoff swing in 4 years and Michael King struck out 12 in his first postseason begin because the San Diego Padres beat rookie AJ Smith-Shawver and the Atlanta Braves 4-0 in Sport 1 of their NL Wild Card Sequence on Tuesday evening.
Tatis’ 415-foot shot within the first inning landed within the second deck in left discipline at Petco Park and despatched the towel-waving, sellout crowd of 47,647 right into a frenzy. The 25-year-old star, who missed simply greater than 2 1/2 months this season with a stress response in his proper thighbone, watched the ball fly away, tossed his bat apart, gestured towards the house dugout and did his signature stutter step round third base.
“It’s lovely power. I like one of these scenario,” Tatis mentioned. “It undoubtedly brings the most effective out of me. And simply wanting ahead to far more experiences like this.”
He mentioned he was searching a fastball.
“I used to be going for it most likely earlier than he launched the pitch. However on the lookout for my fastball, he left it over the plate, and had undoubtedly nice outcomes,” Tatis mentioned. “I knew it was going to exit. I didn’t comprehend it was going to land within the second deck simply because how excessive it was.”
Sport 2 within the best-of-three playoff is Wednesday evening. If the Padres win the sequence, they will face their greatest rivals, the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers, within the Nationwide League Division Sequence. The Padres eradicated the 111-win Dodgers in a 2022 NLDS.
King was sensible in changing into the primary pitcher to have 12 strikeouts with no runs or walks allowed in his first profession postseason begin. He permitted 5 hits and joined Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock as the one Padres pitchers with double-digit strikeouts in a playoff recreation.
At 2 hours, 9 minutes, it was the quickest postseason recreation since Greg Maddux and the Braves beat the Dodgers in 2:08 throughout a 1996 NL Division Sequence.
“I believe I dreamed of an ideal recreation as a substitute of some hits that I gave up,” mentioned King, who came visiting within the blockbuster commerce that despatched Juan Soto to the New York Yankees in December. “However I imply, to rise up 1-0 in a three-game sequence is large. That was the purpose and we achieved that. We have our horse Joe (Musgrove) tomorrow and I’ve received a number of confidence in us.”
King made his postseason debut with the Yankees within the AL playoff bubble in 2020 at eerily empty Petco Park, the place the one “followers” have been a number of thousand cardboard cutouts. He pitched two innings in a Sport 3 loss throughout a Division Sequence that Tampa Bay received in 5 video games.
Getting the short 2-0 lead “made it so I might actually assault on my fastball and keep forward within the counts and actually put the stress on,” King mentioned. “Feeling the group noise, realizing how huge postseason video games are, all of it performed into my mentality all through the entire recreation.”
The Braves clinched a playoff berth by profitable the second recreation of a make-up doubleheader in opposition to the New York Mets on Monday in Atlanta. However they’re with out NL Cy Younger Award favourite Chris Sale for this sequence. The left-hander was scratched from the late recreation Monday with again spasms.
Atlanta performed 27 innings on reverse coasts in a bit greater than 24 hours.
Tatis homered on a 94 mph four-seamer from the 21-year-old Smith-Shawver, one of many Braves’ high prospects. He was making his first playoff begin and simply his second this season.
Luis Arraez was aboard on a leadoff single. Arraez, obtained in a commerce with Miami in early Could, turned the primary participant for the reason that 1800s to win batting titles with three groups.
Tatis skilled his first postseason recreation with followers within the stands. His first playoffs have been in 2020 after the pandemic-shortened season. He missed San Diego’s run to the 2022 Nationwide League Championship Sequence after receiving an 80-game PED suspension from MLB that August.
His house run got here on the anniversary of his two homers in a 2020 Wild Card Sequence recreation in opposition to the St. Louis Cardinals. Mike Shildt, in his first season managing the Padres, was St. Louis’ skipper then.
Kyle Higashioka homered within the eighth and had a sacrifice fly within the second. He’s 3 for 30 in opposition to Atlanta, with three homers.
San Diego was the one one of many 4 house groups to win its playoff opener Tuesday.
Smith-Shawver allowed three runs and 4 hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Braves supervisor Brian Snitker mentioned Smith-Shawver did not know he was beginning till the skipper known as him Tuesday morning.
“It wasn’t due to who we began that we didn’t win this recreation,” Snitker mentioned. “We couldn’t get something going offensively.”
Stated Smith-Shawver: “There are clearly nerves, but in addition it’s the place you wish to be throwing and typically it doesn’t work out your means. However I don’t assume nerves have been the problem in the present day.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: Snitker mentioned he spoke with Sale on Tuesday: “He isn’t feeling actual good. He needed to be right here pitching. Sadly, he cannot. It is robust for him. He was life like with us in how he felt.”
UP NEXT
Braves LHP Max Fried (11-10, 3.25 ERA) and Musgrove (6-5, 3.88) are scheduled to begin Wednesday evening. Fried is a former Padres farmhand. Musgrove grew up in suburban El Cajon.
—
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright 2024 STATS LLC and Related Press. Any industrial use or distribution with out the categorical written consent of STATS LLC and Related Press is strictly prohibited.
