Padres News: Mike Shildt Praises Michael King After Best Start of His Career

Ricardo Sandoval | Apr 7, 2024

Apr 6, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Michael King (34) / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The San Diego Padres moved to 5-6 in the season after their impressive win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, 4-0. The Padres wasted no time racking up runs as they scored all four in the first inning. Luckily, that's all the Padres and right-handed starter Michael King needed to get the win.

King did his job and then some for the Friars in his third game and second start of the season. The 28-year-old was slicing and dicing the Giants all night long. Padres manager Mike Shildt couldn't help but praise King, telling San Diego Tribune's Kevin Acee that's what King does.

"That's who Michael King is," Shildt said.

If this is who King is, Padre fans have something to look forward to. In his third game and second start, he picked up his second win to move to 2-0; he only allowed four hits in seven innings, zero earned runs, four strikeouts, and only one walk.

Although his outing was spectacular, King said he felt like he wasn't as dominant as his manager stated.

"I felt like I was very efficient, in the zone, getting soft contact early in the count, which is obviously a huge thing as a starter," he said. "But I didn't feel like I had electric stuff today. And I know I felt that in the past. So hopefully I can have a seven-plus shutout with some more electric stuff."

King is hard on himself, but the numbers and even his stuff say otherwise. Check out this insane changeup to strike out Tom Murphy.

Michael King, Nasty 86mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/GaWk5qAvUn

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 7, 2024

King was spectacular in his outing, and we'll see if he can continue this play moving forward.