Ineffective Padres lose bullpen game to Braves after Michael King scratched

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on May 24, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ATLANTA — They felt their fortunes had turned.

But then Michael King slept awkwardly, and the San Diego Padres continued to be ineffective on offense.

The relievers who filled in for King were undone by a couple soft hits and a few really hard hits, and a 7-1 Atlanta Braves victory on Saturday was the Padres’ seventh loss in their past eight games.

It was not difficult to envision the unanticipated bullpen game going differently. But then, with the Padres still largely unable to muster a timely base hit, it might not have mattered.

The Padres, who won the opener 2-1 here Friday on the strength of two solo home runs, were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position Saturday and have three hits in 53 such at-bats over the past eight games. In that span, they have scored two or fewer runs six times.

With the loss, the Padres (28-22) fell into a virtual tie with the St. Louis Cardinals (29-23) for the National League’s final wild-card spot. It might be too early to talk about playoff positioning, but it was just two weeks ago that the Padres’ 25-13 record was the best in Major League Baseball.

King was scratched from his scheduled start after waking up with shoulder stiffness in his throwing arm that the Padres attributed to how he slept.

That left the Padres to fill the day’s innings however they could.

Sean Reynolds left with the Padres down 2-1, the runs scoring because of a hit batter, an infield single that hit third base and one ball Matt Olson hit hard over the wall.

Wandy Peralta allowed the runner he inherited from Reynolds in the third inning to score, on an infield single that didn’t get off the grass, and got two outs deep in the fifth.

Alek Jacob ended that inning on one pitch before yielding Ronald Acuña Jr.’s second home run in two days in the sixth and being charged with four runs while getting just one out in the seventh.

One of those runs scored on a single allowed Yuki Matsui, who then finished off the inning and worked a scoreless eighth.

The game did not begin as dreadfully as it ended for the Padres’ bullpen. For a time, it even seemed as if their only problem was some bad luck.

Reynolds hit Alex Verdugo on the shirt to start the second inning and then paid for it without a ball leaving the infield or being put in play harder than 73.5 mph.

Verdugo moved to second on a soft groundout to second base and to third on a dribbler in front of the mound that Reynolds grabbed and threw to first for the out.

Then came the really unfortunate at-bat against Nick Allen. First, home plate umpire Dan Iassogna called a ball on what would have been strike three. Two pitches later, Allen sent a slow roller up the third base line that stayed fair and hit the bag as Verdugo ran home.

Braves starter Grant Holmes returned the favor in the third inning, as a fastball sailed inside as Brandon Lockridge tried to pull back a bunt offering.

Lockridge stole second on the pitch that struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. and, after Luis Arraez flied out, scored on Manny Machado’s single to center field.

Reynolds, who had not thrown more than 42 pitches in any of his five appearances with the Padres or four games in Triple-A, began the third inning having already thrown 44 and with Wandy Peralta beginning to warm up.

A single and a double-play grounder, after seven pitches, had Reynolds one out from completing three innings. And he was given the opportunity to do so, as Mike Shildt left him in to face left-handed batter Matt Olson, the Braves’ No.3 hitter.

Olson’s 12th home run of the season put the Braves up 2-1.

Reynolds then laid a 1-2 sweeper in the center of the strike zone that right-handed batter Austin Riley sent on a line to the track in left field for a double.

That brought Shildt from the dugout and Peralta from the bullpen.

After a single to center field by Verdugo moved Riley to third, Ozzie Albies rolled a ball in the grass toward third base and just beat out a throw from Machado, who ran in to barehand the 56 mph grounder.

The runs after that were a bonus for the Braves.

Holmes ended up completing seven innings with little tangible resistance from anyone besides Machado and Merrill.

Machado finished 2 for 2 with two walks. Jackson Merrill doubled and singled. The Padres got two other hits and continued to have fruitless at-bat after fruitless at-bat when it mattered.

Xander Bogaerts popped out in foul territory to strand Machado on third and Merrill on second in the first inning. After Machado walked and Merrill singled to start the sixth, Bogaerts, Gavin Sheets and Jake Cronenworth went down in order. A lead-off double by Elias Díaz in the seventh was followed by Lockridge, Tatis and Arraez making outs.

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