King regroups after getting 'blooped' by Brewers

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres played game No. 82 on Sunday afternoon, which means they are more than halfway through the season. That also means Michael King is more than halfway through his first full season as a Major League starting pitcher.

His pitching line on Sunday aside, it’s so far, so good for the right-hander.

King had some awful BABIP luck in the series finale against the Brewers, taking the loss in a 6-2 decision at Petco Park. Milwaukee avoided its first four-game sweep against the Padres by dropping three flared base hits just beyond the infield in a five-run second inning.

“We blooped him,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy conceded.

As the Brewers blooped, King nearly bleeped. He surrendered six hits in the inning -- his career high for one frame -- but only one was hard-hit. That was an RBI single up the middle by Tyler Black, 101.6 mph off the bat, per Statcast.

Pitching coach Ruben Niebla made a mound visit to give King a breather, but the pitcher was seething by the time he recorded the final out. Catcher Brett Sullivan, called up from Triple-A the day before, turned into a counselor during the bottom half of the inning.

“I leaned on Sully a lot because the frustration had kind of kicked in,” King said.

Sullivan quickly turned King’s mindset toward the innings ahead. They credited the Brewers with getting the bat on some tough pitches and putting them in the air. King’s first five outs were recorded via strikeout, but the battery moved away from the power approach to working down in the zone and seeking groundouts.

The result? Scoreless innings through the sixth. King became the first Padres starter not named Matt Waldron to give San Diego six innings since Dylan Cease did it against the A’s on June 10.

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“For him to regroup and throw four goose eggs and give us a chance to come back, that was outstanding,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said.

And in the macro sense, it’s what starters need to do. Job one is to win games. Job two is to preserve the bullpen when a game might seem lost. Joe Musgrove knows. He made a similar transition from bullpen arm/swingman to full-time starter.

“Ultimately, it’s about having resolve,” Musgrove said, “realizing your situation, maybe changing your approach a little bit. Try to force early contact to keep your pitch count in a decent spot.

“He had a high pitch count through the first two innings. Then it’s the fourth or fifth inning, and I look up and he’s at 70 pitches. He really managed it well.”

Despite the five-run blip, King has a 3.75 ERA through 16 starts and one relief appearance (in the season-opening Seoul Series). He’s only 11 innings off his career high of 104 2/3 last year with the Yankees.

King hasn’t missed a turn in the rotation, and he is showing no signs of weariness under the workload. Even if the physical transition isn’t complete, the mental one appears to be.

“I continue to learn as many things as I can,” King said. “I feel very good physically. I feel like my routine has been pretty solid. It’s just continue to eat innings and give the team a chance to win every time out.”