Michael King, Padres back on track in win vs. Astros

Jeff Sanders, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug 8, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — The Padres expect their trade deadline acquisitions to eventually stabilize the rotation.

The pitching staff looks even better when this version of Michael King shows up.

King threw six strong innings, Jackson Merrill homered for the seventh time in 22 games since the All-Star break and the Padres beat the Houston Astros, 3-2, in front of a sellout crowd of 41,937 on Saturday at Petco Park.

King’s quality start was just his second in five starts since the All-Star break. He struck out six, walked one and allowed three hits while throwing 64 of his 93 pitches for strikes.

He only paid for one hit: a solo homer from former Padres prospect Taylor Trammell to right-center off a four-seamer just above the zone.

The blast tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning.

The Padres retook the lead in the third inning on Merrill’s home run and a double-play ball helped King out of the top of the fourth inning, the start of seven straight outs to end his outing.

Adrián Morejón walked a batter to load the bases before striking out pinch-hitter Jake Meyers with the bases loaded to clean up Jeremiah Estrada’s mess in the seventh inning.

Morejón turned in a scoreless eighth and Mason Miller converted his career-high 29th save despite hitting a better and giving up a run in the ninth.

The Padres improved to just 10-14 in King’s starts this season. He leads the Padres’ starting pitchers in innings (136 1/3) and ERA (3.37), but King has talked at length and often about grinding to regain the feel he had before losing much of the 2025 season to injury.

Merrill’s third-inning homer off right-hander Peter Lambert traveled 421 feet on a 107 mph line to center to give the Padres a 2-1 lead.

It was Merrill’s seventh homer in 22 games since the All-Star break.

His first RBI of the afternoon counted as a fielder’s choice as all three runners had to hold up to make sure right fielder Cam Smith wouldn’t come up with the catch on the shallow fly ball.

Fernando Tatis Jr. easily scored from third base when the ball fell in, but Ty France was thrown out before he could reach second base, taking a hit away from Merrill.

The Padres’ third run crossed the plate when Gavin Sheets reached on a swinging bunt in the fourth inning, moved to third on a pair of groundouts and scored when shortstop Jeremy Peña booted a routine grounder from Tatis.