When people talk about playing a complete game, or complementary baseball, they're talking about exactly what the Padres did at Fenway Park on Saturday. The pitching was stellar. The offense was clicking. The defense was nearly flawless.
All in all it led to an 11-1 thrashing of the Red Sox, giving the Padres a series win and their first five-game winning streak of the season. Let's start on the mound because Michael King is evolving into a front of the rotation starter right before our eyes.
King tossed 6.0 innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts. In his first full season as a starting pitcher he just keeps getting better. Here's how King has fared in each of the first three months:
April (5 starts) = 4.71 ERA, 28.2 IP, 29 K, 8 HR allowed
May (5 starts) = 3.00 ERA, 30.0 IP, 34 K, 3 HR allowed
June (6 starts) = 2.67 ERA, 33.2 IP, 41 K, 1 HR allowed
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Luckily for the Friars he's not the only one who's been heating up with the weather. Manny Machado is on one of his patented heaters. On Saturday, San Diego's slugger swatted two home runs and drove in five to make his June even more stellar than it already was. Manny is hitting .337 with a robust .918 OPS during the month. As his elbow and hip injuries have healed he's turned into the MVP candidate we saw in 2022.
And rookie Jackson Merrill might be the most impressive of them all. He went deep for the second straight game, a towering shot over the big wall in left-centerfield. When the calendar flipped to June he caught fire, as well, hitting .303 with a .966 OPS for the month. Merrill leads all big league rookie batters in home runs (12), RBI (42), hits (82), and batting average (.288). Not bad for a 21-year-old who we weren't sure was even going to make the Opening Day roster three months ago.
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At 46-41 the Padres are five games over .500 for the first time all season. They can sweep their second straight series on Sunday behind knuckleball guru Matt Waldron.
