Padres' Craig Stammen Finally Gave Michael King What He's Been Asking For

King tossed six scoreless innings on Monday.

Aug 31, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; San Diego Padres pitcher Michael King throws in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Michael King set a career high Monday night with his 15th quality start of the season, topping his previous career high set in 2024.

While King fought through six scoreless innings in Monday's 5-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds, his first few innings did not seem to have the makings of a quality start.

In his first three batters faced, King gave up a single and a double. All of a sudden, the Padres faced two runners in scoring position with one out on the board. King stuck through it, forcing a groundout and a strikeout to end the inning.

King's struggles continued into the second inning, hitting Eugenio Suarez on the first pitch of the inning and allowing a single to the next batter he faced. Once again, King prevailed, retiring the next three batters to keep the Reds scoreless.

King's start wasn't pretty, as he gave up four hits, three walks and hit two batters. But, as he pointed out after the game, his manager's belief in him meant everything.

Stammen visited King on the mound in the sixth after the 31-year-old hit his second batter of the game. For the first time in his first season with the Padres, Stammen left the mound visit without removing the pitcher from the game.

“I think when the manager goes out there and leaves the starter out there, I think it gives confidence to the starter,” King said of Stammen's move. “And I’ve always wanted that. My college coach did it to me a couple times, and so I told Stammen that, and he was like, ‘I don’t want to do that. I’m not comfortable with that.’ And I said, ‘Please.’ It took three-quarters of the way through the year to do it, but very, very happy he gave me that out.”

During the mound visit, King said, he was quick to make the argument for keeping him in the game.

“I didn’t even let him talk,” King said. “I just said, ‘This is a quick out, four-seam down and away. I got this one.’ And he said, ‘All right, let’s do it.’ And that was it.”

King did just that, forcing TJ Friedl to line out to right field on a hard-hit ball that, thankfully for King, was caught by Fernando Tatis Jr.

“It was just a lot louder of a quick out than I wanted,” King said. “So I snapped my head back [toward] the dugout to make eye contact with him. He was laughing. But glad that we can laugh at it because it was an out.”

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