SAN DIEGO (AP) Fernando Tadis Jr. scored two runs in his first playoff swing in four years and Michael King struck out 12 in his first season start as the San Diego Padres beat rookie AJ Smith-Shaver and the Atlanta Braves. 4-0 in Game 1 of their NL Wild Card series on Tuesday night.
Tattis’ 415-foot shot in the first inning landed in the second deck in left field at Petco Park and sent the sellout crowd into a frenzy, waving the towel of 47,647. The 25-year-old star, who suffered more than 2 1/2 months of this season from a strain in his right hamstring, watched the ball fly away, pushed his bat aside, gestured toward the home dugout and made his signature stumble. Around the third base.
“It’s beautiful energy. I love this kind of atmosphere,” Tadis said. “It definitely brings the best out of me. Looking forward to more experiences like this.
He said he was hunting the fastball.
“I was going for it before he released the pitch. But looking for my fastball, he left it at the plate and definitely got great results,” Tadis said. “I knew it was going to get out. I wasn’t sure it was going to land on the second deck because of how high it was.
Game 2 of the best-of-three playoffs is Wednesday night. If the Padres win the series, they will face their biggest rivals, the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers, in the National League Division Series. The Padres eliminated the 111-win Dodgers in the 2022 NLDS.
King became the first pitcher with 12 strikeouts and no runs or walks allowed in his first career postseason start. He allowed five hits and joined Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock as the only Padres pitchers with double-digit strikeouts in a playoff game.
At 2 hours, 9 minutes, it was the fastest postseason game since Greg Maddux and the Braves beat the Dodgers in 2:08 during the 1996 NL Division Series.
“I think I dreamed of a perfect game instead of a few hits that I gave up,” said King, who came off the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to the New York Yankees in December. We’ve got Joe (Musgrove) and I’ve got a lot of confidence in us.
King made his postseason debut with the Yankees in the AL playoff bubble in 2020 at an eerily empty Petco Park, where the “fans” were only a few thousand cardboard cutouts. He pitched two innings in Game 3 during a division series win by Tampa Bay in five games.
Taking a quick 2-0 lead “was able to hit my fastball, get ahead in the count and really put the pressure on,” King said. “Feeling the noise of the crowd and knowing how big the postseason games are, it played into my mindset the whole game.”
The Braves clinched a playoff spot with a win in the second game of a makeup doubleheader against the New York Mets on Monday in Atlanta. But they are without NL Cy Young Award favorite Chris Sale for the series. The left-hander was scratched late in Monday’s game with back spasms.
Atlanta played 27 innings on the opposite coast over 24 hours.
Tadis homered in a 94-mile four-seamer off the 21-year-old Smith-Shaver, one of the Braves’ top prospects. He was making his first playoff start and second this season.
Luis Ares aboard a leadoff single. Ares, acquired in a trade with Miami in early May, became the first player since the 1800s to win batting titles with three teams.
Daddies enjoyed his first preseason game with fans in the stands. His first playoffs were in 2020 after a pandemic-shortened season. After receiving an 80-game PED suspension from MLB that August, he missed San Diego’s run to the 2022 National League Championship Series.
His home run in a 2020 Wild Card Series game against the St. Louis Cardinals came on the anniversary of his two homers. Mike Schildt, in his first season managing the Padres, was captain of St. Louis.
Kyle Higashioka led off the eighth and went to second on a sacrifice fly. He was 3 for 30 with three homers against Atlanta.
San Diego was the only one of the four home teams to win their playoff opener on Tuesday.
Smith-Shauer allowed three runs and four hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said he didn’t know Smith-Shauer would start until the captain called him Tuesday morning.
“The reason we didn’t win this game wasn’t because of who we started,” Snitker said. “We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
Smith-Shauer said: “Obviously there are nerves, but where you want to throw, sometimes it doesn’t work out your way. But I don’t think nerves were an issue today.
Coach’s room
Braves: Snitker said he spoke with Sale on Tuesday: “He’s not really feeling well. He wanted to pitch here. Unfortunately, he can’t. It’s tough for him. He was realistic with us about how he felt.
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Braves LHP Max Fried (11-10, 3.25 ERA) and Musgrove (6-5, 3.88) are scheduled to start Wednesday night. Fried is a former Padres farmhand. Musgrove grew up in suburban El Cajon.
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