Michael King allowed one hit through seven scoreless innings and Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts homered as the San Diego Padres routed the visiting Chicago Cubs 8-0 on Tuesday in Game 1 of a National League wild-card series.
Tatis scored three times and joined Machado (two runs, two RBIs), Jackson Merrill (two RBIs), Ty France and Bogaerts with two hits apiece as San Diego jumped ahead in the best-of-three series.
King (1-0) struck out eight and walked three in a solid 97-pitch effort. Yuki Matsui pitched a perfect eighth, and Joe Musgrove struck out two and allowed two hits in the ninth while completing a three-hit shutout.
“It’s really just staying locked into the game plan and the execution,” King said. “And when it starts to roll, I almost want the offense to slow down a little bit to let me keep going out there. Obviously, I’m going to take as many runs as I possibly can.”
Game 2 is Wednesday night in San Diego.
King hadn’t allowed a hit through 6 1/3 innings until Nico Hoerner reached on an infield single. Hoerner hit a hard grounder down the third base line. Machado made a sliding stop to corral the ball but lost it while trying to get off a throw.
King then struck out Pedro Ramirez and Carson Kelly to end his strong effort.
King struck out NL MVP favorite Pete Crow-Armstrong twice and fanned Alex Bregman three times. Bregman was 7-of-8 against King entering the night.
Armstrong later struck out a third time against Matsui.
Musgrove made his first major league appearance since the 2024 postseason, having recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Chicago’s Matthew Boyd (0-1) served up three homers on changeups while allowing four runs and five hits over four innings. He struck out four and walked one.
“You never want to play from behind,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It means you’ve got to score, and we didn’t score. There’s nothing more than that really.”
Tatis deposited the first pitch from Boyd over the center field wall. Armstrong leaped, but the ball dropped behind him.
Two batters later, Machado drilled a homer over the wall in left-center to make it 2-0.
Tatis drew a one-out walk in the third, and Machado ripped a two-out double off the wall in center to drive in the runner.
Bogaerts swatted a Boyd changeup into the Western Metal Supply Co. building to make it 4-0 with two outs in the fourth.
San Diego blew the game open in the fifth as a single by Luis Campusano, a walk to Machado and a single by France loaded the bases with two outs against Javier Assad.
Ryan Rolison entered and was greeted by Merrill’s two-run single to right. A passed ball by Kelly allowed France to score as the Padres led 7-0.
Tatis reached on an infield single to start the seventh and then stole second. Kelly’s throw caromed into left-center field and Tatis tossed his helmet aside, went into a full sprint and came all the way around to score.
–Field Level Media
