The San Diego Padres are here to stay. They only need one more win (and one Arizona Diamondbacks loss) to clinch the postseason on Tuesday night versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Friars throttled the Miami Marlins, sweeping the away team and outscoring them 22-11 in the series sweep.
The Friars got an incredible performance from Walker Buehler. The starter went 6 2/3 innings and was nearly perfect through the first six. The trouble came in the seventh when Buehler surrendered a three-run shot to
Javier Sanoja. Thankfully, San Diego’s offense has been rolling lately. The lineup has scored a ridiculous 80 runs in their last 11 games, for an average of 7.3 runs per game. They’ll need that to continue to clinch versus the Dodgers.
Taking the mound
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD) v. Michael King (SD)
Yamamoto hasn’t pitched in a full week since making his start on September 15 against the Cincinnati Reds. That extra rest has been a newer development that has seemed to work for the righty. He’s coming off an absolute gem. Los Angeles’ ace twirled seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks in the process. He’s been dominant all year, with a 2.51 ERA through 179 innings.
It’s been even tougher lately, with Yamamoto owning a minuscule 1.79 ERA across his last seven starts (45.1 IP). That said, he did just surrender four runs to the St. Louis Cardinals in a recent start. He’s been a workhorse though, working into the seventh inning in all five of his last starts. San Diego will need to turn the tables on Yamamoto to take the series opener from L.A.
King has been the Padres’ ace this season. He’s stepped up in a major way after an injury-plagued 2025 campaign. The right-hander owns a 3.03 ERA with a 1.16 WHIP through 181 innings pitched. He’s been even better down the stretch, with a 2.73 ERA in his last 15 starts (89.0 IP) and a 2.01 ERA in his last seven (44.2 IP).
Not only that, but King has pitched quite well versus Los Angeles this season. The righty has surrendered six runs across 17 1/3 innings pitched against the Dodgers. Most of that damage came on June 28, with King surrendering four runs in 4 1/3 innings. In his other two starts, King pitched a seven-inning shutout and a six innings of two-run ball.
Batter up!
Jake Cronenworth has been more than due lately. He’s batting .229 on the season with a dismal .637 OPS. That said, he plays above-average defense all around the diamond and has been quite the utility player for San Diego. He became so much more than that on Sunday afternoon, putting together his first multihomer game of the season. Cronenworth is currently on a 10-game hitting streak and has batted .464/.516/.786 in his last seven games.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
- Dustin Harris, RF
- Manny Machado, DH
- Ty France, 1B
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Jake Cronenworth, 3B
- Samad Taylor, LF
- Freddy Fermin, C
Machado has been DH-ing quite a bit lately. It’s possible that his hand is injured and the Padres are making sure their star third baseman will be ready come playoffs. He’s actively winced multiple times at the plate since seeming to injure it during San Diego’s recent road trip.
Relief corps
With Buehler pitching six pristine innings before collapsing in the seventh, only three relievers needed to be used. Kyle Hart got the final out of the seventh before Bradgley Rodriguez came in. He pitched a scoreless eighth and Mason Miller started warming up with the score at 5-3. That changed quickly when Cronenworth knocked in his second homer of the day, but Miller still came out to finish the game.
With the off day on Monday, the Padres will have their whole ‘pen available for their series opener in L.A. That said, those who will be readily available are Griffin Canning, Kyle Hart, Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon, David Morgan, Wandy Peralta and Randy Vásquez. King shouldn’t have too many troubles, but the Friars have options if their ace struggles.
