Matt

Waldron

Even though everyone aside from Bryan Hoeing should be available in relief of Martín Pérez, the Padres felt they needed one more arm for Sunday’s game. Waldron had a 4.58 ERA in four starts after being demoted to El Paso. He isn’t likely to factor into the Padres’ postseason plans.

Waldron appears to have hit the dreaded rookie wall as he’s surrendered a staggering 22 runs over his last three starts. It’s a bit unclear where the Padres go from here, but the 27-year-old is going to get some time to figure things out in the minors away from the spotlight. He was extremely effective in the first half of the year, so we’re fairly confident he’s going to make an impact for fantasy managers at some point down the road.

Waldron seems to have lost his feel for the knuckler some — he used it a season-low 24% of the time tonight — and he’s now gotten hit hard in three straight starts, taking his ERA from 3.79 to 4.79. His rotation spot should be in some jeopardy at this point, though he could turn things around very quickly if he gets the good knuckler back.

Waldron dug himself and the Padres a big hole by allowing four runs in the first, including a three-run blast to Brendan Rodgers. The 27-year-old also allowed a two-run homer to Charlie Blackmon an inning later, and an RBI single to Jordan Beck in the sixth. Waldron has allowed a dozen runs over his last two starts, and that brings his ERA up to 4.29. He’ll try and get back on the right track

Waldron was long gone before Saturday’s extra-inning marathon was finally settled. He gave up five hits, including a fourth-inning solo blast to Vidal Bruján. He struck out five and only issued a pair of walks. He leaned pretty heavily on his knuckleball in this one, which has been a recipe for success this season, but it didn’t pan out against the Marlins. He’ll bring a respectable 4.00 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 121/38 K/BB ratio across 132 2/3 innings (24 starts) into a challenging road matchup on Friday against the Rockies at Coors Field.

The 27-year-old knuckleballer allowed just two hits and two walks during the impressive outing. He served up a solo homer to Brenton Doyle in the fourth inning, but aside from that he was absolutely phenomenal. Waldron got nine whiffs on 80 pitches on the afternoon — five of them on his knuckleball — while registering a CSW of 34 percent. He’ll look to keep the good times rolling as he carries a 3.79 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and a 116/36 K/BB ratio (128 1/3 innings) into Sunday’s showdown against the Marlins in Miami.

The Padres had been hopeful that Michael King would be ready to take the hill on Sunday, but instead Waldron will have his start moved up a couple of days to take his place. The 27-year-old knuckleballer has posted a 3.89 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and a 109/34 K/BB ratio over 122 2/3 innings in 22 starts this season. King could be ready to take the ball on Tuesday against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

All of the runs came in the first. Waldron bounced back to allowed just one hit and no walks over the subsequent three innings, but the Padres declined to send him back out for the fifth at 81 pitches. It’s the first time that Waldron has allowed five runs since he gave up eight to the Diamondbacks on May 5.

This game got off to a shaky start for Waldron: back-to-back knocks from Lane Thomas and Jesse Winker followed by a home run from Juan Yepez put three runs on the board early. Then, the Padres offense erupted for 11 runs in two innings and Waldron coasted through the sixth. This start wasn’t as dominant as his last few, but the end result was still fantastic.

Per usual, Waldron’s knuckleball was dancing in this one. Oddly enough, it was up over two ticks and sat just below 80 MPH. The Guardians could not find a way to square it up as Waldron worked his eighth quality start in 10 chances.