Padres roll as Fernando Tatis Jr. HRs playoff return

SAN DIEGO – Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a massive two-run home run in his first playoff swing in four years and Michael King struck out 12 in his first postseason start as the San Diego Padres rookie AJ ​​Smith-Shawver and The Atlanta Braves beat 4-0 in Game 1 of their NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday night.

Tatis' 415-foot shot in the first inning landed in the second deck in left field at Petco Park, sending the towel-waving, sellout crowd of 47,647 into a frenzy. The 25-year-old star, who has been out for just over two and a half months this season due to a stress reaction in his right femur, watched the ball fly away, tossed his racket aside, pointed to the home bench and took his trademark stutter-step for third around base.

“It’s a beautiful energy,” Tatis said. “I love situations like this. It definitely brings out the best in me. And I’m just looking forward to more experiences like this.”

He said he was chasing a fastball.

“I probably wanted to try it before he cleared the field. But when he looked for my fastball, he left it over the plate and definitely got great results. I knew he was going out. I didn't know he was going out.” Landing in the second deck just because it was so high.

Game 2 in the best-of-three playoff is Wednesday night. If the Padres win the series, they will face their biggest rival, the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers, in the National League Division Series. The Padres eliminated the Dodgers by 111 wins in a 2022 NLDS.

King was brilliant as he became the first pitcher to have 12 strikeouts with no runs or walks allowed in his first postseason career start. He allowed five hits and joined Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock as the only Padres pitchers with double-digit strikeouts in a playoff game.

At 2 hours and 9 minutes, it was the fastest postseason game since Greg Maddux and the Braves beat the Dodgers in 2:08 minutes during a 1996 NL Division Series.

“I think I dreamed of a perfect game, not a few hits that I gave up,” said King, who was included in the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to the New York Yankees in December. “But I mean, taking a 1-0 lead in a three-game series is huge. That was the goal and we achieved it. We have our horse Joe (Musgrove) tomorrow and I have a lot of confidence in us.”

King made his postseason debut with the Yankees in the AL playoff bubble in 2020 at eerily empty Petco Park, where the only “fans” were a few thousand cardboard cutouts. He pitched two innings in a Game 3 loss during a Division Series that Tampa Bay won in five games.

The quick 2-0 lead “allowed me to really attack with my fastball, stay ahead in the count and really apply pressure,” King said. “Feeling the crowd noise and knowing how big postseason games are all affected my mentality throughout the game.”

The Braves secured a playoff spot by winning the second game of a makeup doubleheader against the New York Mets in Atlanta on Monday. But they will be without NL Cy Young Award favorite Chris Sale in this series. The left-hander suffered from back spasms from the late game on Monday.

Atlanta played 27 innings on opposite coasts in just over 24 hours.

Tatis hit a home run on a 94-mile-per-hour four-hitter from 21-year-old Smith-Shawver, one of the Braves' top prospects. He made his first playoff start and only his second start this season.

Luis Arraez had a leadoff single. Arraez, acquired in a trade with Miami in early May, became the first player since the 19th century to win batting titles with three teams.

Tatis saw his first postseason game with fans in the stands. He played his first playoffs in 2020 after the pandemic-shortened season. He missed San Diego's advance to the 2022 National League Championship Series after receiving an 80-game PED suspension from MLB in August.

His home run came on the anniversary of his two home runs in a 2020 Wild Card Series game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Mike Shildt, who led the Padres in his first season, was St. Louis' captain at the time.

Kyle Higashioka hit a home run in the eighth and a sacrifice fly in the second. He is 3-for-30 against Atlanta with three home runs.

San Diego was the only one of the four home teams to win its playoff opener on Tuesday.

Smith-Shawver allowed three runs and four hits in 1⅓ innings.

Braves manager Brian Snitker said Smith-Shawver didn't know he would start until the captain called him Tuesday morning.

“It wasn’t because of our starting lineup that we didn’t win this game,” Snitker said. “We couldn’t do anything offensively.”

Smith-Shawver said: “Of course the nerves are there, but you also want to throw there and sometimes it doesn't work out the way you want. But I don’t think nerves were the problem today.”