Michael King works to rebound as Padres take on Nationals

San Diego right-hander Michael King will look for a bounce-back outing when the Padres visit the Washington Nationals on Saturday afternoon.

King (4-3, 2.76 ERA) leads Padres starters in ERA, innings pitched (62) and strikeouts (63) and has given up two earned runs or less in eight of his 11 starts this season.

He was masterful in a May 18 outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers, tossing seven shutout innings in a 1-0 win. King struck out nine and walked two. But his most recent start was his worst of the season, as he gave up four runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings Sunday in a 5-2 loss to the Athletics while striking out four and walking four.

"He just wasn't quite as sharp as what we normally are accustomed to," Padres manager Craig Stammen said after the game. "Four walks, some hits and just kind of deep in counts and stuff like that. So not his day today, but get him back out there next time and he'll be just fine."

King is 0-0 with a 4.91 ERA in three career appearances vs. the Nationals, who will counter Saturday with left-hander Foster Griffin (6-2, 3.63).

After a pair of subpar outings in which he gave up a combined 14 earned runs in 9 1/3 innings, Griffin turned in one of his best efforts of the season. On Sunday, he threw six shutout innings in a 2-1 win at the Atlanta Braves. He allowed three hits, struck out six and walked one.

"I feel like I had my backdoor stuff going pretty good," Griffin said. "And I know when I have that early, it's probably going to be a good day. I was able to keep that going throughout the game and mix speeds."

Griffin has never faced the Padres, who on Friday snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-5 win in the series opener.

San Diego rallied from a 4-1 third-inning deficit. Jackson Merrill's two-run homer in the seventh gave the Padres the lead, and Mason Miller's four-out save locked it down.

Merrill had not homered since May 4.

"I've been working with my teammates," Merrill said. "They've been picking me up all the time. We've been playing good baseball. It just felt good to hit a ball that hard for the first time in a while."

Miller retired Luis Garcia Jr. with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning en route to his 17th save. San Diego's Fernando Tatis Jr. had three hits, while Ty France had two, including a home run.

Curtis Mead and Keibert Ruiz homered for Washington, which has lost two straight games and opened a six-game homestand.

"The big thing for me was when we were ahead [in the count], we didn't finish," manager Blake Butera said. "We didn't strike out a ton of guys. Felt like they did a really good job of spoiling some pitches."

Five Washington pitchers combined for five strikeouts.

Mead hit his fourth home run in the last six games and is batting .320 with six RBIs during that span.

--Field Level Media