Ninth-inning homer gives Reds victory in game highlighted by Michael King’s return for Padres

The Padres got a win before they lost Tuesday night.

If not for the return of the pitcher who started opening day for them and was arguably their best pitcher a year ago, a loss would simply be a loss at this point in the season for a team in a playoff race.

But even before Tyler Stephenson’s two-run homer off Robert Suarez broke a tie in the top of the ninth inning and held as the decisive hit in a 4-2 Reds victory, something happened that practically rendered the final score a footnote.

Michael King was back on the mound for the Padres, and he was every bit as good as could be expected.

“Couldn’t have been more pleased,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Really could not have been.”

There is no way to downplay how big a win it is that King would be healthy for the Padres as they approach October.

The right-hander, who was sidelined 10 starts into the season with a nerve impingement near his throwing shoulder and made it through two innings in a start in August before going back on the injured list with left knee inflammation, made it through five innings on 63 pitches Tuesday.

When King was not leaving fastball balls in the fat part of the strike zone, he was generally every bit of the top-shelf starter the Padres anticipated he would be for them this season.

In his first start in a major league game in exactly one month and his first time going more than two innings in nearly four months, King surrendered a pair of first-pitch home runs with one out in each of the first two innings before going on to allow just a single and walking one.

Sal Stewart, the second batter King faced, sent a sinker left up over the middle of the plate 419 feet to center field.

Will Benson, the second batter in the second inning, turned on a thigh-high four-seam fastball over the inner third of the plate and drilled it 409 feet to right field.

“I feel like there’s always a ton of room for improvement,” King said. “I always pride myself on fastball command. There were a lot of fastballs that I did not command today. Looking forward to that improving. But health-wise, everything felt pretty good, so I was happy about that. … It’s one of those where I say pitch off my fastball command. So it’s easy for me to nitpick. Even offspeed pitches, a lot of them weren’t commanded as well as I wanted to. Adrenaline coming back into the big-league game, you know, so I’m expecting a lot better command in my next one.”

King retired the next six batters he faced on a total of 15 pitches before going to three balls in a count for the first time and walking Gavin Lux with one out in the fourth inning.

He almost followed that by surrendering another one-out, first-pitch homer. But Fernando Tatis Jr.’s fifth home run robbery of the season (and fourth at Petco Park) by running back 76 feet to chase down a long drive by Stephenson and leaping to catch the ball a good three feet beyond the wall.

King appeared to be tiring as he retired the next four batters, going to three balls against three of them.

“Tapered off just a hair,” Shildt said. “But couldn’t have been more thrilled. And if we’d have stayed down, he would have been able to go back out and grab the sixth for a hitter or so.”

The Padres made sure King’s night was finished and that he would not be on the hook for a loss by tying the game in the bottom of the fifth.

They did not get a runner on base against Reds starter Zack Littell between Ryan O’Hearn’s one-out single in the first inning and Ramón Laureano drawing a walk to lead off their half of the fifth.

Then they got three in a row, as Jackson Merrill’s second triple in two nights drove in Laureno and Jose Iglesias was hit on the left hand by a 91 mph sinker.

Jake Cronenworth made the first out of the inning, but it was a line drive to left field that tied the game by bringing in Merrill.

Littell would finish six innings before the battle of the bullpens commenced.

Jeremiah Estrada, Wandy Peralta and Mason Miller got the game to Suarez, who recorded two outs before walking Lux and serving up Stephenson’s shot to the second balcony of the Western Metal Building.

Reds closer Emilio Pagan, the Reds’ third reliever, worked a 1-2-3 ninth against his former team.

But for one night, there could be a good feeling after a tough loss.

King, who was sixth in the National League with a 2.59 ERA when he was sidelined in May, went into Tuesday’s start with the mindset that every game matters and that his job was to be the pitcher he is when he is at his best.

The reality is that immediacy must be blended with a longer-term vision.

How he feels Wednesday and his ability to rebound and be able to go Sunday is the next step.

King being able to give them quality innings in postseason starts is considered all but imperative if their postseason is going to last to the end of October.

The plan is for him to get three more starts before the postseason. The hope is that he would continue to build up endurance and effectiveness in those starts and be close to the best version of himself when he is called on to start in a wild-card series.

The Padres are almost certainly going to be playing one of those, as the winner of the National League West appears destined to be the No.3 seed. That would mean hosting the No.6 seed in a best-of-three series that begins Sept. 30.

The top wild-card team will earn the No.4 seed and host the fifth seed. The Cubs won Tuesday and lead the Padres by three games in the race for that fourth seed.

“I’m very confident,” King said. “I know today didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but we’ve got a hell of a team. I can’t wait to see Petco in October again. I can’t wait to see these guys in October, and it’ll be a very fun final stretch.”