The San Diego Padres hosted the Seattle Mariners at Petco Park on Thursday in the first game of a three-game series, and no one expected a high-scoring game. Michael King is on the mound for the Padres and Bryan Woo is pitching for the Mariners, so both offenses know scoring opportunities will be limited. In the end, San Diego took full advantage of the victory against Wu, defeating Seattle 4-1.
King and Wu went back and forth in the sixth inning, but the Mariners let their starting pitching go into the seventh. The Padres led 3-1 after six innings and the bullpen was primed and ready to follow a winning blueprint, with Adrian Morejon handling the seventh inning, Jason Adam taking the eighth and Mason Miller closing out the ninth to earn their sixth win in as many games.
The San Diego offense caught Wu in the bottom of the third inning after King allowed a run in the top of the second inning. With Seattle leading 1-0, Ramon Laureano hit a triple into the bottom of the right field wall. Fernando Tatis Jr. then scored a batter on a single up center to tie the game at 1-1. Jackson Merrill followed with a single, moving Tatis Jr. to third. After Manny Machado’s second out, the Padres had two outs at the corners.
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Merrill stole second base, giving up second and third to Xander Bogaerts, who again hit a single. Bogaerts singled to midfield, Tatis Jr. and Merrill scored to give San Diego a 3-1 lead. Gavin Sheets then passed to shortstop to end the inning, but the Padres had a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
San Diego got insurance in the bottom of the eighth inning after Merrill loaded the bases on Seattle reliever Casey Legumina. Machado hit a deep fly ball to left field, which moved Merrill to third base. Bogaerts hit his third RBI of the game on a single to right field to give the Padres a 4-1 lead. Miller entered the game on a trot from the bullpen in the top of the ninth and struck out all three Mariners he faced.
King ended his day on the mound after allowing one run on four hits in six innings. He also recorded five strikeouts and allowed just two four-hit balls. John Woo was eliminated after completing seven innings. He allowed three runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out three.
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Merrill and Bogaerts had three hits each to lead the Padres offense. Merrill scored two points and Bogaerts scored three points.
San Diego will face Seattle in Game 2 of the series on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m.