ATLANTA -- Ahead of the Padres’ game against the Braves on Saturday afternoon, San Diego thought it would have ace right-handed pitcher Michael King starting on the mound.
It was not to be.
King, whose 2.59 ERA is sixth-best among qualified NL pitchers, was scratched about 45 minutes before first pitch due to right shoulder stiffness. King awoke Saturday morning with the stiffness. He is day-to-day.
The Padres were forced into an impromptu bullpen game. Sean Reynolds made his first MLB start and covered 2 2/3 innings before three relievers followed in a 7-1 loss at Truist Park.
“It’s hard to say where he’s exactly at,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said of King. “We want to stay ahead of it. We could have pushed today for him to go out and take the ball, but that would have been a push. …
“He just felt like he slept on it wrong. He had strength; it was just sore. He got treatment but still felt it. We’ll see as time unfolds. We’ve been down the road where we say, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be day-to-day,’ and it happens longer. We do believe it’s not anything overly serious.”
After Reynolds, the Padres got two innings from Wandy Peralta and 1 2/3 apiece from Alek Jacob and Yuki Matsui. Peralta and Matsui turned out scoreless outings, but the Braves touched Reynolds for three runs and Jacob for four.
“You go in and have a chance to win the series, and one of your guys isn’t able to post, understandably,” Shildt said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the vibe and the reaction out of this clubhouse. The hitters were like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’ The bullpen was like, ‘Let’s make this happen.’ Guys buckled down.”
Reynolds, a converted first baseman/outfielder, has been a pitcher since 2021. He made only three Minor League starts, all in 2024 for Triple-A El Paso. But he was ready to go when called on.
“That’s just part of it,” Reynolds said. “The whole group mentality -- just being in the bullpen in general -- if guys don’t get it done, we’re [going to] come in and have their back. I know Michael tried everything he could to be out there today, and it wasn’t [going to] happen.
“Just mindset-wise, I was just grateful for the opportunity and excited. To start a game against the Atlanta Braves on a Saturday in front of a packed house is pretty cool. I definitely had some adrenaline going. It was fun.”
Reynolds was notified about the possibility of starting a couple hours before first pitch.
“We gave him a heads-up once we realized there’s a possibility,” Shildt said. “We weren’t certain about Michael yet. … We just put it on his radar that it might happen.”
Pitching coach Ruben Niebla gave Reynolds the final word about 45 minutes before first pitch.
“I was grateful for the opportunity and they [trusted] me to go out there and give the team as many innings as I could,” Reynolds said. “Obviously, I would have loved for the result to be a little bit different.”
Reynolds allowed six hits as he tied his career high of 2 2/3 innings.
“Overall I’m happy with the way I competed,” Reynolds said. “I didn’t feel like I gave in at all. I made some really good pitches -- two that I’d like to have back -- but other than that, I’m pretty happy with the way I threw the ball. The stuff felt good. It felt good coming out of the hand. I had all four pitches for the most part working.”
Though they employed Reynolds, Peralta, Jacob and Matsui, the Padres did not use any of their high-leverage relievers. With frontline starter Dylan Cease scheduled for the series finale on Sunday, a series win remains in reach.
“We had a lot of plans coming into the game,” Shildt said. “We were [going to] stay away from [Robert] Suarez because he was down. [Adrian] Morejon was an emergency, kind of extra-inning deal. [Jason] Adam would have been on his third day in a row. [Jeremiah] Estrada had one [inning] in him. Those guys being able to get through it with the four guys, it was a good, competitive game until a little bit at the end.
“That sets us up more for [Sunday] with Cease going.”