CLEVELAND -- Michael King (8-6, 3.28 ERA) carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, as the San Diego Padres beat the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 at Progressive Field on Sunday afternoon.
In King’s seven dominant innings of work, he allowed one run on only two singles and a walk while striking out six.
Jeremiah Estrada relieved King, while Robert Suarez recorded the final four outs for his 23rd save and completed the two-hitter.
Both of the Padres’s runs came in the second inning when Kyle Higashioka lined a double to left field to bring in Jackson Merrill and Ha-Seong Kim and give San Diego a 2-0 lead.
The Padres win the series and improve their record to 52-50.
Here are the takeaways:
NEW KING IN CLEVELAND
Move over Lebron James, Michael King’s phenomenal performance on the mound against the Guardians on Sunday afternoon was amazing.
The Padres starter did not allow a hit until the seventh inning when Angel Martínez led off the inning with a bloop single to center field. It was the second time this season the 29-year-old right-hander had taken a no-hitter into the seventh inning (April 17 vs. Brewers).
In six career games against Cleveland, King has a 0.51 ERA throughout 17 ⅔ innings.
STELLAR STARTING ROTATION
The state of the Padres’ starting rotation has been seriously questioned since Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove were placed on the injured list in mid-May. However, the starters who took the mound in Cleveland this weekend showed there is no further need for questioning.
A day after Dylan Cease pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and two days after Matt Waldron’s solid six innings, King followed by flirting with a no-hitter into the seventh on Sunday. All three starters totaled 20 innings over the series and allowed two runs while striking out 21 and only allowing eight hits and two walks.
The Guardians had not gotten a hit in 12 innings and had not scored in 16 innings when Sunday’s seventh inning started. Their offense also only went 3 for 55 in the last two games of the series.
NL WILD CARD RACE
The Padres get a series win over the team that entered the weekend with the best record in the American League, helping San Diego get off to a good second-half start. The last time the Guardians lost a series was when they played the Yankees back in mid-April.
The season will ultimately come down to how the Padres perform in the second half of the season. They are currently tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets for the third and final National League Wild Card spot. All three teams are 1.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the second-place spot.
San Diego right-hander Randy Vásquez (2-5, 4.57 ERA) will pitch Tuesday when San Diego heads to Washington D.C. for a three-game series against the Nationals. The Nationals have not announced a starter.