Padres host Marlins with new bullpen standout on call
The San Diego Padres have hovered around .500 all season, but maybe their newest weapon can help them string together some wins.
In Sunday’s 5-2 victory over the visiting New York Yankees, flamethrowing right-hander Jeremiah Estrada jumped to prominence, striking out all five batters he faced and setting a Padres franchise record by fanning his past 10.
The Padres, who had lost five straight home games, have the surging Miami Marlins coming to town for a three-game set that starts Monday.
San Diego manager Mike Shildt professed to knowing Estrada’s potential since the right-hander was claimed off waivers from the Chicago Cubs in the offseason.
“This guy’s got an elite fastball, and now he’s got secondary pitches in the zone. It’s just a lethal combination,” Shildt said after Sunday’s game.
Estrada routinely hit 97-98 mph and mixed in splitters and sliders.
“He demonstrated a lot of positive things throughout the offseason with us, including spring training, and the message just continued to (be) get better at some of these things, (that) ‘If you do that, you can be a force at the back end of games.'”
Estrada came on in relief of starter Joe Musgrove with one out in the sixth inning after the Yankees took a 1-0 lead. The 25-year-old struck out the red-hot Aaron Judge on three pitches and Alex Verdugo on four.
After San Diego rallied for four runs in the bottom of the inning, Estrada took down Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres.
Since being called up from Triple-A El Paso on April 26, Estrada is 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA and one save in 11 appearances.
Right-hander Michael King (4-4, 4.28 ERA) gets the start for the Padres on Monday.
In May, King is 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA. He is coming off a 7-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. He went 6 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
King has faced the Marlins once in his career. While with the Yankees, he pitched two innings as an opener and allowed two runs on four hits with three strikeouts in a 3-1 loss in Miami on Aug. 12.
