Padres waste Michael King gem, drop series opener to Cards

McGreevy has anchored a St. Louis rotation that has frequently lost them games (or at least made games far more interesting than the club would like). He’s pitched to a 2.52 ERA in 39 1/3 innings. He’s already pitched almost half of his total innings in 2025 (95.2). McGreevy has been fantastic so far for the Cards, and, if he can keep it up, he’ll plant himself firmly as St. Louis’s ace. Canning had a beautiful debut for the Padres, pitching five innings of one-run ball. He gave up only three hits to the Chicago White Sox and struck out seven in his first outing back from injury. His only problem was command in the beginning of the game, issuing three walks in his outing. But if Canning can build on the success from his first start, the Friars should have a good chance at getting back in the win column.

Batter up!

San Diego’s offense struggled last night after scoring 15 runs in the final two games in San Francisco. They’ll need to rebound from that tonight against McGreevy in order to eke out a win. The Friars don’t have a ton of experience against the right-hander, but what they do have has been solid (.353 combined batting average, 34 at-bats). The lineup tweaks that worked well against the Giants didn’t do the same last night, though Craig Stammen has shown a desire to stick with it for the time being.

1. Jackson Merrill, CF
2. Miguel Andujar, DH
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Ramón Laureano, LF
7. Gavin Sheets, 1B
8. Freddy Fermin, C
9. Sung-Mun Song, 2B After Tatis played second base last night, he’ll likely be back in right field with Song returning to second. Tatis has continued to heat up, going 2-for-3 last night for the Padres only solid production throughout the lineup. The same goes for Fermin who was replaced by Rodolfo Durán last night. King had high praise for Durán’s work behind the dish but his bat was cold. He underwhelmed in his MLB debut, going 0-for-3 at the plate.

Relief corps

The Padres’ relievers pitched great last night, despite the loss. But it was Bradgley Rodriguez giving up one run that lost the Friars the game. Both Wandy Peralta and Jason Adam worked around command issues to pitch scoreless innings, keeping the Padres in the game but the offense couldn’t author a win. Tonight, thanks to King’s gem last night, the Friars will have plenty of options to turn to. Jeremiah Estrada, Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon will be readily available behind Canning’s start. Should Canning falter, San Diego will have the ability to pitch a bullpen game.