King serves as star of a San Diego starting rotation in limbo
SAN DIEGO — The Padres’ rotation, as it approaches the All-Star break, sits in a curious place. Of the five starting pitchers who began the season in that rotation, the three who remain are mostly thriving.
On Wednesday afternoon, Michael King put the finishing touches on his stellar first half with six solid innings in the Padres’ 2-0 loss to Seattle. He struck out nine and allowed only three hits and one earned run. Let down by both his offense and his defense, it was hard to pin any of the blame on King. He shouldered it anyway.
“I want to put up zeros every time,” King said. “It’s still an ‘L’ next to my name. So I’ve got to be better.”
Nonetheless, the Padres’ plan for King has clearly gone smoothly. In his first full season as a starter, he hits the break with a 3.41 ERA, having already passed his career high in innings. The Padres see no signs of King slowing. The same is true of Matt Waldron, who has been a revelation after earning the fifth spot in the rotation during Spring Training.
And while Dylan Cease’s performance has been up and down lately, his dominant stuff remains, as evidenced by his seven excellent frames against Arizona on Sunday. The Padres can feel legitimately good about three-fifths of their starting rotation.
The other two spots? Hoo boy, are there ever question marks:
Joe Musgrove remains on the 60-day IL as he battles right elbow inflammation and a bone spur.
Yu Darvish has been on the IL twice already and was recently placed on the restricted list to tend to a personal family matter. Details around his return are unavailable.
Lately, Randy Vásquez has been serviceable as a fill-in, but he has a 4.66 ERA this season.
After being hit hard on Tuesday, Adam Mazur’s ERA ballooned to 7.84, and he was subsequently optioned to Triple-A El Paso.
There are no obvious solutions in the Minors. Right-hander Jhony Brito was recently sent to El Paso to be stretched toward a starter’s workload, and he’s allowed nine runs in five innings over two starts.
