Padres notes: Mason Miller’s heat, Michael King ready, Dylan Cease’s part

CHICAGO — Rounding is a concept taught fairly early in grade school, so color Mason Miller a bit confused.

104.5?

That might as well be 105 mph, right?

“I (round up) too; I don’t know what’s up with that,” Miller said with a laugh. “They shortchanged me a little bit.”

To be clear, no one is shortchanging Miller.

The 104.5 mph four-seamer to strike out Carson Kelly looking for the second out of the seventh inning was not only the fastest of his career, it was the fastest postseason pitch by any player since the start of the pitch-tracking era in 2008.

Only a handful of pitchers have actually hit 105 mph without rounding — Aroldis Chapman, Ben Joyce and Jordan Hicks — with Chapman topping out at 105.8 mph as a rookie on Sept. 24, 2010, while facing Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. at Petco Park.

Miller’s previous high was 104.2 mph on Aug. 5 against the Diamondbacks, but it’s difficult to think of a better pitch than the one that froze Kelly.

The at-bat started with an inside, 89.6 mph slider that the Cubs catcher fouled off. He also got a piece of the 102.8 mph four-seamer on the upper inside corner of the plate. Then Miller dotted 104.5 mph down and away, exactly on the corner of that quadrant of the strike zone.

Kelly could do nothing with it.

“It’s the best fastball,” Miller said when asked if it was the best pitch he’s ever thrown.

He added: “You kind of focus on what your lanes are, and sometimes everything syncs up and the execution is perfect. But the majority of time, we’re not executing every single pitch for exactly where you want to. Sometimes it just lines up that way.”

It’s lining up just right for Miller this postseason.

Before hitting Michael Busch with two outs in the eighth inning, he’d struck out eight straight batters in his first trip into the postseason, an MLB record. The eight straight strikeouts are tied with Josh Hader’s eight straight batters punched out during the Padres’ 2022 playoff run, the most ever at any point in a postseason.

What does Miller, 27, have left for Thursday after back-to-back outings?

It’s October. Do you even have to ask?

“Every pitch feels like its coming out good right now,” Miller said after throwing 1⅔ scoreless innings. “I feel really good. Just going to do everything today to get myself positioned to pitch again (Thursday).”

King locked and loaded

Yu Darvish may not have to go all that deep on Thursday or perhaps any longer than one time through the order, depending on how the game develops.

Michael King said he was not close to warming up on Wednesday and figures to be locked and loaded, just like he was all those years in the Yankees’ bullpen.

“Just like it used to be,” King said. “Yeah, I’m ready to go.”

It would be King’s first relief appearance since piggybacking Joe Musgrove in Game 2 in South Korea last year, when he allowed three runs on four hits and three walks in 3⅓ innings. Before that, he made 96 appearances out of the bullpen with the Yankees.

In other words, he knows just what to do if pressed into action behind Darvish.

“I mean, you’ve got to go with your ‘A’ stuff immediately,” King said. “There’s no reason to, like, set up for anything. But in the playoffs, that’s how it is in general. So it wouldn’t be any different than what I was doing if I was starting.”

Cease’s part

Before the bullpen carried Wednesday’s win home, Dylan Cease struck out five over 3⅔ shutout innings, scattering three hits and a walk in a 1-0 game.

It was exactly what the Padres thought he was capable of despite Cease carrying a 4.55 ERA and checkered personal postseason numbers into Wednesday’s start.

“From the outside, it doesn’t look as like the performance has been there,” Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla said. “From the inside, we’re looking at his strikes, pitch shapes, velocity and everything’s matching up that he should be having better results. And so we know that Dylan can have these types of games at any point in the season. Especially last five outings, I’ve noticed him moving so much better, moving quicker. The velocity is there. Slider’s there, and he’s mixing the other pitches. So there’s a lot of telltale signs that say that Dylan’s capable of doing (that).”

Notable

• Dating back to 1984, the Padres are 15-9 all-time when scoring first in the postseason.
• Former Padres bench coach Ryan Flaherty, serving in the same capacity with the Cubs, exchanged lineup cards at home plate with current Padres bench coach Brian Esposito.
• Cubs Hall of Famer Andre Dawson threw out the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday.