SAN DIEGO -- On Wednesday, the Padres will conclude what once loomed as perhaps the most daunting stretch on their schedule. They will have played 26 games in 27 days and 35 in 37. Many of those games were against division rivals and fellow contenders.
At the outset, it became clear they would be without Michael King and Yu Darvish for most, if not all, of that stretch. (All of it, as it turned out.)
How on earth would the Padres cover those innings? How could they make it through that gauntlet with a worryingly thin rotation? As it turned out, they did so by toeing the line between relying on their bullpen and over-relying on it.
That was never more clear than during Tuesday night’s 4-3 victory over the Nationals at Petco Park, a game in which manager Mike Shildt deployed his four highest leverage arms to cover six scoreless innings.
In some ways, Shildt’s hand was forced. Rookie right-hander Ryan Bergert exited one batter into the fourth inning after he was struck by a line drive in the right forearm. X-rays came back negative, and he appears to have avoided significant injury. Still, the Padres were forced to go to their bullpen far earlier than they’d anticipated.
“That don’t matter,” said right-hander Jeremiah Estrada. “We’re here to help out our boys. That’s just what we do.”
It wasn’t the first time Shildt had gone to his ’pen early during this stretch. But this was perhaps as aggressive as he has been all season. Having used most of his lower leverage relievers in Monday’s loss, he opted not to use any of them for a second straight night. He chased the game instead.
“It was like, ‘All right, we’re down two, a lot of confidence in our offense,’” Shildt said. “‘Let’s ride.’”
The Padres trailed 2-0 when Bergert exited, and he was later charged with a third run. From there, the San Diego bullpen locked it down. Adrian Morejon threw two scoreless. Jason Adam -- pitching as early in a game as he has pitched all season -- took down 1 2/3 innings, making quick work of the heart of the Nats’ lineup.
The Padres rallied, tying the game on Martín Maldonado’s solo homer and taking the lead on Jose Iglesias’ RBI groundout. Estrada then recorded four setup outs, and Robert Suarez nailed down the save.
“Different places for guys,” Shildt said, alluding to Morejon and Adam in particular. “But the right places for guys. They did their job, super efficient. They were all fantastic. Stuff was electric from all of them.”
Said Nationals manager Dave Martinez: “They've got a really good bullpen. We knew that coming in. The objective for us to try to score first, try to get on the board, kind of beat the starters up a little bit earlier. Once they get in that bullpen, it's tough.”
In the end, Shildt’s aggressive maneuvering paid off.
At what cost in the long run? That remains to be seen. Needless to say, the Padres can’t use their highest leverage relievers for multiple innings every night.
But this stretch was a unique one. The schedule was challenging enough. Throw in the makeup of that rotation -- with Bergert, Randy Vásquez and Stephen Kolek as full-time starters in the big leagues for the first time -- and the Padres had little choice but to overburden their relievers. There’s almost no way they could’ve emerged from this stretch without a taxed bullpen.
Which brings us back to Darvish and King. Their return would go a long way toward alleviating that burden. On that front, Darvish is slated to throw a simulated game against Single-A hitters on Wednesday. It’ll be his third time facing hitters, and he should build to three innings. He hasn’t pitched this season due to right elbow inflammation, but he could be nearing a return in early July.
King, meanwhile, is further away, as he deals with a nerve issue that has affected his shoulder. He has been ruled out through the All-Star break. But he played more aggressive catch on Monday and felt good in doing so. Shildt called it “a really good day.”
Reinforcements, it seems, are finally on the way. In the meantime, a few much-needed off-days will be sprinkled into the Padres’ upcoming schedule. But expect the heavy workload for the back-end relievers to continue.
That’s fine by them.
“It’s just having each other’s back,” Estrada said. “That’s what this team does. We get each other’s back.”