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 landed in the second deck of left field at Petco Park, sending the towel-waving, sellout crowd of 47,647 into a frenzy. The 25-year-old star, who was out just over two and a half months this season because of a stress reaction in his right femur, watched the ball fly away, tossed his bat to the side, pointed to the home bench and took his trademark stutter-step to third base.

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 and no walks in his first postseason career start. He joined Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock as the only Padres pitchers with double-digit strikeout games in playoff history. He allowed five hits and allowed none.

King made his playoff debut with the New York 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 loss in Game 3 of a Division Series that Tampa Bay won in five games.

The right-hander arrived in the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to the Yankees on December 7th.

The Padres were the only one of the four home teams to win on Tuesday.

The Braves secured a playoff spot by winning the second game of a makeup doubleheader against the New York Mets in Atlanta on Monday. They will be without NL Cy Young Award favorite Chris Sale in this series. The left-hander was scratched from Monday's late game with cramps.

Tatis hit a home run on a 94-mph four-run off the 21-year-old Smith-Shawver, one of the Braves' top prospects making his first playoff start and just his second of the season.

Luis Arraez had a leadoff single. Arraez, acquired in a trade with Miami in early May, became the first player since the 1800s to win three batting titles with three different teams.

Tatis experienced his first playoff game with fans in the stands. He played his first playoffs in 2020 after the pandemic-shortened season. He missed 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 2020 in a 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.

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

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

“It may have been a shock when we put him on the plane last night,” Snitker said.