SAN DIEGO -- Not long after finishing his work in Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Sunday night, Padres ace Michael King made an important declaration to teammates, coaches and anybody within earshot: He would be available out of the bullpen over the next two games.
"I kind of told him like, 'Why?'" Padres third baseman Manny Machado recalled. "'Get ready for Game 5.'"
As the days ticked by, King's availability became paramount. Adrian Morejon, the Padres' dominant setup man, came out of a Monday catch session with a stiff left shoulder. The following afternoon, about 45 minutes before the start of Game 3, Mason Miller, their star closer, was placed on the paternity list to witness the birth of his first child. Both would be unavailable with the Padres' season on the line.
And so there was King, coming out of the bullpen to shut down the pesky Milwaukee Brewers in the eighth and ninth innings from Petco Park on Tuesday night, preserving the 4-3 victory that forced Game 4.
"He's a beast," Padres reliever Jason Adam said. "Incredibly impressive, and such a team guy. That's not easy to do. There's risk in that. But he knew he could help us win this ballgame."
Padres manager Craig Stammen said Morejon is dealing with "a little stickiness in the shoulder." Pitching coach Ruben Niebla described him as "a little fatigued," adding that Morejon wasn't completely unavailable but the team was trying to stay away from him. The Padres are "hoping" and "expecting" Morejon to be available for Wednesday's Game 4, Niebla said.
"He was definitely feeling a little bit better today," Stammen said, "just didn't feel like he could go."
Miller's situation developed a little later. Stammen received a call from him around 2 p.m. PT that his wife might be going into labor. Over the next three hours, Miller and the Padres were waiting to see if his wife might deliver in time for him to make it to the ballpark for the game. It eventually became clear he wouldn't. At 5:47 p.m. PT, Miller went on the paternity list, prompting left-hander reliever Wandy Peralta to replace him on the roster.
Niebla sounded hopeful that Miller would rejoin the team for Game 4 -- a game that doesn't happen without King.
"I know that I have bullets in my arm that I don't want to save," King said. "I felt like it needed to be the right time. I think that it all aligned with Mason going on paternity. Even if he was available, I was still going to be up and ready to go in whatever situation that presented itself."
For the third time in as many games in this NLDS, the Padres scored first and built a multiple-run lead on the 103-win Brewers.
In the bottom of the third, Samad Taylor singled, stole second base, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Jackson Merrill's base hit. Machado drove Merrill in shortly thereafter, giving the Padres a 2-0 lead. After the Brewers tied the score on William Contreras' solo homer and Jackson Chourio's sacrifice fly, Jake Cronenworth got the lead right back with a leadoff homer in the fifth -- his second hit in these playoffs and his second home run off a left-hander all year.
The Padres built a two-run lead in the sixth when Xander Bogaerts dodged the barrel of Miguel Andujar's broken bat between second and third base, creating just enough disruption for Brewers rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt to throw low enough for the baseball to squirt past first baseman Jake Bauers and allow Bogaerts to score.
By that point, Stammen had already burned through Adam and Yuki Matsui and had already brought in Bradgley Rodriguez. Rodriguez got through the seventh allowing a run, by which point King, a former reliever with the New York Yankees, started warming up in the bullpen.
"That's a little weird," Bogaerts recalled thinking to himself.
King called Sunday's start a "glorified bullpen" after he threw just 72 pitches. He stayed away from his typical between-starts bullpen session so he could stay available. And for good measure, he went into Stammen's office before Game 3 to remind him.
"Incredible, really," Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. said.
King worked around a single in the eighth and got out of even more trouble in the ninth. Contreras and Brice Turang drew one-out walks, putting the tying and winning runs on base. Then Christian Yelich hit a 107.1 mph line drive directly at Bogaerts, who was positioned behind second base. Bogaerts fielded the ball on a hop, stepped on the bag and fired to first for the game-ending double play.
The Padres lost Game 1 on a towering Ty France fly ball that clanked off a roof cable at American Family Field, turning what could have been the game-tying home run into an out. They lost Game 2 when Chourio delivered the walk-off single with the bases loaded and two outs against Miller in the bottom of the ninth. To win Game 3, it took everything the Padres had -- from two spectacular Jackson Merrill catches to one critical Bogaerts stop deep in the hole to two critical innings from King, who never left any doubt about his availability.
Another game will follow.
"I'm ready for bed," Machado said as midnight approached Tuesday.
"We used a lot of energy today, and we've got to bring that same energy tomorrow," Stammen added. "It's going to be another fight, just like the first three games, and I don't think I expect anything different."