PHOENIX -- Zach Davies couldn't have picked a more comfortable setting for his first start since being traded in November. The Padres’ right-hander returned to his former spring home in Maryvale on Sunday to face his former team in the Cactus League opener.

For a pitcher making his first start of the spring, Davies looked about as sharp as he possibly could. He worked two perfect innings in the Padres' 7-2 victory over the Brewers.

"Everything felt good," Davies said. "My timing felt great. I was making pitches, working on a few different things early on.”

Davies arrived in San Diego along with outfielder Trent Grisham in the trade that sent Luis Urías and Eric Lauer to Milwaukee. Urías is sidelined with a left wrist injury, but the other three put forth impressive debuts on Sunday.

Grisham singled up the middle for the first hit of the game, and Lauer pitched a scoreless inning of relief, striking out two. Davies, meanwhile, recorded a strikeout and induced three grounders and a pair of lazy fly balls.

"Baseball has a funny way of matching things up like that," Davies said of facing the Brewers. "I was excited to see the guys. I was excited to play against them. But at the end of the day, we move on and go on with our careers, and it ends up being just another game."

• Grisham spurred by trade, spotlight moment

Davies projects as the Padres' No. 4 starter, coming off five seasons in Milwaukee in which he posted a 3.91 ERA. He isn't one to induce many swings and misses, averaging only 6.4 strikeouts per nine innings over his career. But Davies generally has been able to avoid hard contact, using mostly a sinker/changeup mix, with an occasional cutter.

He put that arsenal on display on Sunday. Davies even threw Keon Broxton a changeup on a 2-0 count, and Broxton swung over the pitch. The former teammates shared a brief moment of laughter before Broxton grounded out later in the at-bat.

"I was surprised he didn't know it was coming," Davies joked afterward. "He knows me and that I like to do that kind of stuff."

Davies’ fastball sits around 90 mph, and he doesn’t own an obvious put-away weapon. But at Cactus League media day last week, Brewers manager Craig Counsell cited Davies' command as the biggest reason for his success in Milwaukee.

"Zach's best trait is what I would call 'stubborn but in a good way,'" Counsell said. "He's convicted about who he is. He has a pretty elite skill of command at times. It's hard to measure, but he's really, really good with it.

"He doesn't rely on velocity. He reads swings really well. ... And he controls situations really well. On the mound, he does a really nice job of not letting things snowball, making pitches when he has to."

The Padres are looking for precisely that kind of presence at the back end of their rotation. That's part of the reason they traded for him in the first place.

At first, Davies was taken aback by the move. But he pointed out that the Brewers would go on to overhaul a significant chunk of their roster over the winter.

"They've had success with turnover," Davies said. "They're confident in who they scout and the numbers they have to put together a team that wins. We'll see how it ends up at the end of the year. I'll root for some of my friends over there. But it would be fun to play them in the playoffs."

Bullpen starts strong
The Padres spent the offseason building one of the deepest bullpens in baseball. That's going to make things difficult on the team's decisionmakers when they need to pare their relief corps down to eight pitchers later this spring.

Pierce Johnson, Javy Guerra and Luis Perdomo all threw scoreless innings on Sunday. Among that trio of right-handers, Guerra is probably the most interesting case this spring.

A converted shortstop, Guerra is out of Minor League options even though he has been a pitcher for only about a year. He owns a smooth delivery and a high-90s fastball, and the Padres certainly don't want to risk losing him on the waiver wire. But there aren’t many places available.

"Really good start for him -- throwing strikes, velo was good, movement was good," manager Jayce Tingler said. "He provides a lot of tough matchups, especially for right-handed hitters."

Johnson, meanwhile, signed a two-year deal during the offseason after a dominant season pitching for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. He struck out two hitters in the sixth.

"He brings something unique to the table," Tingler said. "He can really spin the baseball. It's been a while since he's pitched in the States, so it was good to get the Major League ball in his hands, get out here and get going."

Lauer makes quick work of Padres
Lauer worked a 1-2-3 fourth inning with two strikeouts, though he expressed disappointment that Greg Garcia was the only former teammate he got to face.

"You guys couldn't switch up the order for me?" Lauer joked. "Let me face Ty [France] and Wil [Myers] or something."

Lauer was a first-round Draft pick in 2016 -- specifically the compensation pick the Padres received when Justin Upton left in free agency. Lauer was part of the farm system's overhaul into one of the best in the sport, and he had spent his entire career in the organization.

"That was all my friends, basically everybody that I knew in my baseball career, everybody I came up with," Lauer said. "That was the weirdest part for me, thinking I'm going to go into another big league clubhouse. ... The Brewers made it a very easy transition for me."

Noteworthy
• Right-hander Michel Baez allowed a solo homer to Brewers second baseman Ronny Rodriguez in the third inning. But he settled down and threw two innings of one-hit ball in relief of Davies. The Padres are stretching Baez back out into a starter this spring after he spent the second half of last season in the big league bullpen.

• It was a nice day for Padres outfield prospects. Center fielder Taylor Trammell doubled in the ninth inning, and he scored on Edward Olivares’ single a few pitches later. Trammell and Olivares are on the fringes of the Padres' outfield mix, but both are seen as potential midseason contributors.

• Shortstop Gabriel Arias, the team's No. 13 prospect in the MLB Pipeline rankings, was a late addition to big league camp. The sure-handed 19-year-old singled in his only at-bat and made a trio of smooth plays at short.

Up next
Right-hander Cal Quantrill was slated to start the Padres' opener on Saturday before the game was rained out. Instead, he threw a light bullpen, and his start was bumped to Monday against the Royals at Surprise, Ariz. First pitch is slated for 12:05 p.m. PT, with key bullpen cogs Drew Pomeranz and Craig Stammen also slated to throw.