Michael

King

King struck out three and walked three. He allowed two homers on the afternoon, including a solo shot to JJ Bleday with two outs in the bottom of the seventh that broke a 2-2 tie. The right-hander has a lower K-BB% than we’ve grown accustomed to, but his ERA and WHIP are right in line with last season. He’ll remain a strong fantasy option next time out in St. Louis.

King tossed a scoreless first inning, then gave up a solo homer to Jared Young in the second. Two more hits in the third inning brought a second run in to score. Luis Torrens later took King deep for a two-run homer in the fifth. King gave the Padres one more scoreless inning, ending his day after six with four strikeouts. He’s hit a bit of a rough patch, with at least four runs allowed in each of his last three starts. The 31-year-old right-hander will look to get back on track when he takes a 3.41 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and a 69/29 K/BB ratio across 74 innings into a start against the Reds in San Diego on Wednesday.

It was just one run through six, thanks in part to Jorbit Vivas’s 369-foot fly to right in the fifth turning into an out. Statcast had it as a homer in 26 ballparks. The seventh started with a single, a big miscue from Fernando Tatis Jr. on a grounder to second that went as a fielder’s choice, a walk and a HBP, at which point King was removed. After another botched play in the infield and another walk before the first out was finally recorded, it wound up turning into a six-run inning for the Nationals. King was clearly better than the line suggested, but he dropped to 4-4 with a 3.04 ERA. He’ll likely face the Mets next Friday.

King struck out four. He surrendered a leadoff homer to Carlos Cortes, setting the tone for the rest of his afternoon. He might’ve been due for a clunker given his double-digit walk rate and lack of homers allowed prior to Sunday. He’ll still carry a 2.76 ERA into a road matchup against the Nationals in his next scheduled start.

King ought to buy his catcher dinner after this one, as Rodolfo Durán threw out two of three basestealers and was correct on all three of his challenges behind the plate. Of course, King was pretty good, too, giving up just five hard-hit balls and finishing up with a 35 percent CSW. He’s allowed a total of two runs in his last three starts, and his ERA is down to 2.31. He’ll make his next start at home against the A’s.

King is so much fun to watch when he has everything clicking. His fastball and changeup each forced four swings-and-misses and he was tunneling those two pitches beautifully off each other against left-handed batters. At the same time, his sinker-sweeper combo tormented right-handers. The only run he gave up came after a single by Sal Frelick following an eight-pitch battler, bunt hit, and two straight fielder’s choices. He’ll look to take this momentum into a two-start week against the Dodgers and Athletics with both starts coming at home.

The one hit was a solo homer from Alec Burleson. King struck out six while allowing two runs or fewer for the sixth time in eight starts. In spite of that, the Padres dropped to 3-5 in his outings. He’ll face the Brewers on the road next time out.

King walked three, struck out five and allowed seven hits. It wasn’t an abhorrent start for the right-hander, but considering the opponent and how well he’d been pitching coming into Saturday, a disappointing one. The 30-year-old did did blank Chicago for the first five frames, but things fell apart from that point on, with two runs scoring in the seventh with King not recording an out. He’ll look to rebound — or at least pitch better in the middle innings — against the Cardinals on Thursday.

The Padres used their three best relievers Saturday, so they were hoping their other guys might at least be able to cover the seventh and eighth today. As it turned out, David Morgan, Bradgley Rodriguez and Ron Marinaccio combined to give up 10 runs. Both runs against King came on homers, including one from Ildemaro Vargas that was just 90.9 mph off the bat. King will take a 2.41 ERA into his start next weekend against the White Sox.

King was able to work around four walks, thanks in large part to six strikeouts. The right-hander allowed just a single to Oswald Peraza in the outing while lowering his ERA from 2.78 to 2.28 over his 27 2/3 frames. The right-hander has looked the part to begin 2026, and will have a chance to pick up his fourth win against the Diamondbacks on Sunday.