'What a welcome': Arraez walks it off in first home game with Padres

SAN DIEGO -- Welcome to San Diego, Luis Arraez.

Welcome to the Padres-Dodgers rivalry.

This was quite an introduction.

Playing his first game in his new home ballpark, Arraez received a standing ovation early Friday night. A few hours later, he sent those fans home happy, lacing a walk-off single to end a tense pitchers’ duel with a 2-1 San Diego victory before a sold-out Petco Park.

“It’s amazing,” said Arraez, who joined the Padres last Saturday in a trade with the Marlins. “It’s a different energy, and when I’ve got energy, I’ll do something good.”

Arraez’s dramatic walk-off ensured a dominant outing from starter Michael King wouldn’t go to waste. Facing perhaps the sport’s toughest lineup, King pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 11.

Luis Campusano’s solo homer off Tyler Glasnow put the Padres in front early.

Los Angeles tied the game in the eighth, but that only set the stage for Arraez’s heroics. Campusano led off the ninth with a double before Dodgers righty Michael Grove left a fastball over the heart of the plate.

“I don’t try to do too much,” Arraez said. “I just be me there. When I see the hole through the middle, I just said, ‘OK, if he throws me that pitch, middle-middle, I just want to hit it through the middle.’”

Arraez is one of those rare hitters with the ability to hit a baseball where he wants to hit a baseball. And he did exactly that. When pinch-runner Tyler Wade came around to score from second, Arraez was promptly mobbed by his teammates on the infield dirt. Petco Park whipped into a frenzy.

“Huge fan of my new teammate,” King said with a smile.

There were, of course, numerous reasons behind the Padres’ stunning early-season trade for Arraez, a two-time batting champ. They needed a lefty bat to balance their offense. They needed an on-base threat atop their order. They needed one more hitter to lengthen -- complete, really -- their lineup.

But boil it all down, and, well, the Padres acquired Arraez because they want to win. They want to win now. The Dodgers are the NL West favorite and the team standing most directly in the way of that objective.

It’s only May. The Dodgers remain a force, and they’ve already built a sizable cushion in the standings, having entered play Friday riding a seven-game winning streak. But no team has played them tougher than the Padres, who now account for four of Los Angeles’ 14 losses this season.

“This was amazing,” said Arraez. “We won. We put in the teamwork there. Really good game for [Campusano], the pitchers. This game was amazing. Winning the first game of the series -- good start for us.”

It's been a good start for Arraez -- who spent Thursday’s off-day trying to get his housing situation ironed out while picking up his wife, mom and daughter from the airport. In his first week with his new club, he batted .375, capping it with his biggest hit yet.

“The guy’s just a special talent,” said Padres manager Mike Shildt. “... What a welcome to Petco Park.”

For most of the night, Arraez’s home debut took a backseat to the unfolding duel on the mound. Glasnow was dominant for seven frames, striking out 10 Padres. But King was better.

The Dodgers notched only two hits against King, both softly hit singles to the opposite field. With dizzying movement on both his sinker and changeup, King induced a career-high 19 swings and misses.

“That was just a good baseball game,” Shildt said. “Good pitching, both sides -- not a lot that either pitcher was going to give you.”

“I thought it was almost a race to the bullpen,” King added. “Because you didn’t know what you were going to get out of their bullpen, and Glasnow was dominating.”

In that battle of bullpens, the Dodgers struck first, scoring their lone run on Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly. But Yuki Matsui escaped trouble when Ha-Seong King deftly turned a double play on Max Muncy’s slow grounder.

Padres closer Robert Suarez continued his early-season dominance with a scoreless top of the ninth. Then, with the winning run on second base, up stepped the newest Padre -- the sport’s most prolific hitter for batting average over the past few seasons.

“You put that inning together, get the guy on second, you feel pretty good when he’s coming up,” Shildt said.

Arraez wasted little time reinforcing the faith of his new manager, his new team and his new city.