Twins fall to Padres in Zebby Matthews' up-and-down second start

Matthews allowed four hits and five runs — two earned — across five innings of work.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Zebby Matthews (52) pitches during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego on Aug. 19, 2024. / Denis Poroy-USA TODAY Sports

Zebby Matthews had his ups and downs in his second major league start, but in the end, the San Diego Padres were able to do just enough damage off the rookie starting pitcher in a 5-3 Twins loss in their series opener Monday night at Petco Park in San Diego.

Matthews ran into some trouble right away in the first inning, hitting former Twin Luis Arraez on his third pitch of the day and giving up a single to Juricksdson Profar. Jake Cronenworth then grounded out, scoring Arraez, and Xander Bogaerts’ RBI single later in the frame put the Padres (71-55) up 2-1.

While Matthews rebounded with a 1-2-3 second inning, he was issued an error after missing a play at first base, allowing Profar to reach with one out in the third inning. Matthews walked Cronenworth and got Manny Machado to fly out after that, but then gave up a two-out walk to Bogaerts. Jackson Merrill made him pay with a bases-clearing double that broke a tie and put the Padres up 5-2.

That proved to be the difference in the game.

Matthews rebounded with a pair of clean innings after that, including a 1-2-3 fifth, to finish his day overall allowing just four hits and five runs — two earned — while fanning one across his five innings.

Matthews fell to 1-1 on the season with the loss.

The Twins (70-55) took a 1-0 lead on Matt Wallner's RBI double in the top of the first inning, and Willi Castro knotted the game up at 2-2 in the second frame with his RBI fielder's choice that scored Edouard Julien, who singled and was advanced to third on Christian Vazquez's single the next at-bat.

But Padres starter Michael King also settled down after that, keeping the Twins scoreless the rest of the way while sending them down in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. King also allowed just four hits and two runs while fanning six as he improved to 11-6 on the season with the victory.

While Trevor Richards pitched a pair of shutout innings and Caleb Thielbar pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning to keep the Twins within striking distance, Jason Adam struck out the side in the seventh inning and Tanner Scott tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning, continuing to stifle the Twins offense.

Julien drew a two-out walk off Robert Suarez in the ninth inning and came home to score on Vazquez's infield single the next at-bat to make things a little interesting late, but Suarez got Jose Miranda to ground out to close out the game and pick up his 28th save of the season.

Before Julien drew the walk, 15 Twins batters had gone down in order.

The Twins and Padres meet for the second of their three-game series at 8:40 p.m. on Tuesday.