NLDS Game 3 Notebook: How Padres’ late-inning plan came together

SAN DIEGO — On a day when the San Diego Padres had to win, the plan for how exactly to win had more twists and turns than imaginable when Tuesday dawned.

With relievers Mason Miller suddenly out because of the birth of his first child and Adrian Morejon unavailable because of “a little stickiness” in his shoulder, the Padres were forced to try to hold off the Milwaukee Brewers without two of the National League’s best relievers.

Luckily for the Padres, Michael King was ready to step up.

King, San Diego’s ace, made his first relief appearance since the 2025 Wild Card round count, throwing a pair of scoreless innings to earn a surprising save and finish off a 4-3 victory. The win kept San Diego’s season alive and forced a Game 4 on Wednesday at Petco Park.

“He’s the best 34 I’ve seen,” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said, referring to King’s uniform number. “He came in the office today and said, ‘I’m available to pitch. I’m available to pitch the next day, and I’m available to pitch Game Five.’ So he’s got an attitude of ‘I’ll do anything to help the team win. I feel healthy and ready to go.’ And so we felt comfortable getting him in the game today and using him in a very high-leverage spot.”

King admitted after the game with a 40-pitch performance on Tuesday following a 72-pitch outing just two days earlier than it was uncharted territory for him. It was also historic as, per OptaSTATs, King became the only Major League pitcher to start a postseason game and then notch a 6-plus-out save within the next two days (since saves became official in 1969).

“I don’t know if I ever have,” King said when asked if he had had two outings like that in such a close span. “It was only 70 pitches on Sunday. It’s kind of a glorified bullpen, so I felt like I knew that I was going to be ready today and tomorrow.”

Knowing he was going to pitch in relief, King said he abandoned his normal routine to get ready for when and if he was needed on Tuesday.

“More recovery yesterday,” King said about his preparation for Tuesday. “Today I kind of got totally out of routine because normally I’m just kicking my feet up watching the game. So I was trying to tap back into that bullpen mentality that I used to have of saving my best bullets for game time. Light day catch, a little bit of recovery stuff, but knowing that I had to have me going, so I definitely changed recovery on day one. And then today it was routine, just trying to make sure that I had as much adrenaline as I possibly could going into that.”

Stammen admitted he didn’t know for sure he wouldn’t have Miller available as a Game 3 option until roughly 60 to 90 minutes before first pitch.

“Mason got a hold of us early afternoon, right when he would probably come to the ballpark. He was kind of monitoring the situation and deciding if he’s going to come today or if things were going to happen,” Stammen said. “He decided that he needed to stay with his wife, and so we knew sometime in the afternoon. But we wanted to give him enough time in case whatever the baby comes really quick, or it goes the other way, and then you know he can come to the game. So we gave him every opportunity.”

What comes next for Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon?

After the game, Stammen said there was no update on Miller’s potential availability for Game 4. He also added that Morejon did play catch on Tuesday and threw off the mound but still wouldn’t commit to either being available for Game 4. However, Bob Nightengale of USA Today said on social media late Tuesday that both relievers were expected to be ready out of the bullpen on Wednesday night.

“We went into the game thinking neither one’s available, and pretty much prepared the day as if that was the case,” Stammen said. “If anything changed, that would have been good news, but nothing changed. We knew we were going to have to rely on our whole pitching staff this postseason, and this was the first day of that.”

Now the Padres will have to see if someone else will play the late-inning hero on Tuesday besides a pair of relievers who have been their go-to options until now.