SAN DIEGO -- Dylan Cease will begin his Padres tenure smack dab in the middle of the pitching rotation.

Manager Mike Shildt on Monday revealed his first full turn through the rotation: Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Cease, Michael King and Matt Waldron.

“We feel really strongly about our rotation," Shildt said.

That feeling only intensified Monday night in the Padres’ first game at Petco Park this year. In his final tuneup for the regular season, a 4-1 exhibition loss to the Mariners, Cease’s stat line -- four innings, three runs, five hits, two walks, four strikeouts -- wasn’t particularly memorable. But his swing-and-miss stuff and competitive spirit were on display.

Case in point: Cease vs. Mitch Garver in the third inning.

The right-hander, acquired in a trade with the White Sox as the Padres broke camp in Arizona, had just yielded a two-run double to open the scoring and was facing a jam with runners on second and third with one out. Pitching coach Ruben Niebla made a mound visit.

How did Cease respond? Three pitches, three strikes to dispatch Garver, a quality right-handed hitter with a Silver Slugger to his name. Cease first blew a 96.5 mph fastball at the top of the strike zone past Garver. Then, he painted the bottom outside corner with a 96.2 mph fastball that froze Garver. Next up was a slider in nearly the same spot. Frozen again. Strikeout.

One groundout later, Cease was out of the inning, having limited the damage.

“I think I just executed better there,” said Cease, who joined the Padres in South Korea and made his Padres debut on March 18 in an exhibition against the LG Twins. “A lot of at-bats today, I was bouncing the ball on offspeed pitches and getting behind in the count there. I was able to get ahead. And when you’re ahead, you have a much bigger advantage.”

Shildt said Cease probably had as disruptive a Spring Training as anybody in Major League Baseball with the trade, the trip to Korea and then a long trip back to San Diego for his final start before he takes the hill Saturday against the Giants. Shildt said Cease was “crisp,” given the circumstances.

“I wasn’t thrilled with the execution,” Cease said. “It was solid for a spring game. If it was a regular-season game, I wouldn’t be thrilled. Fortunately, it wasn’t.”

The Padres got a jump-start on the regular season by splitting two games against the Dodgers last week in Seoul, South Korea. They scheduled two exhibitions in San Diego to avoid going stale with a week between regular-season games. King will face the Mariners on Tuesday in the team’s final exhibition.

Padres will stay on rotation

There was some belief the Padres might flip-flop their first two starters, Darvish and Musgrove, to let the San Diego County native Musgrove start the home opener. Shildt opted to keep them in the order they pitched in the two games in South Korea.

“Simple as that,” Shildt said.

We’ll see some flutterballs
With seven straight days of baseball on their first homestand, the Padres need a fifth starter. Waldron got the call over Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and Pedro Avila.

“Great Spring Training,” Shildt said. “… He just really pitched well. It was more about how he pitched well than the other guys not pitching well, because they performed well also.”

Waldron, a right-handed knuckleballer, posted a 1.35 ERA in four Cactus League outings, covering 13 1/3 innings. He struck out 11 while issuing no walks. Waldron will start Monday in Shildt’s first game managing against his former club, the Cardinals.

Waldon, 27, broke into the big leagues last year with a 4.35 ERA over eight appearances (six starts). He threw the knuckler 26.7% of the time in 2023, according to Statcast, more than any other pitch in his arsenal but far less than the 57.2% of his three fastballs combined (sinker, four-seamer, cutter). He has said he essentially uses the knuckleball as a changeup.