Padres: Luis Patino’s debut was a mixed bag against Dodgers

Luis Patino made his debut for the Padres in the series finale against the Dodgers. Aside from the home run, he was really unlucky.

While the Padres valiant effort at a comeback fell just short on Wednesday evening – hat tip to Taylor’s throw out at home – perhaps the bigger story of the game was Luis Patino‘s MLB debut. The 20-year-old was called up about a year earlier than anticipated, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And while it remains to be seen if he’ll be utilized in the rotation going forward, he took over for Garrett Richards in relief, tossing two innings while fanning two batters and allowing three earned runs. Those runs came via a three-run blast off Joc Pederson‘s bat, but the efforts leading up to that moment proved Patino was a tad unfortunate.

Nothing like a welcome to the Show facing Cody Bellinger right off the bat, but Patino got the Dodgers outfielder to fly out to center field. Corey Seager followed that with a 99.1 MPH rocket into centerfield for a single. Chris Taylor’s ground ball single after Seager had an expected batting average of just .150.

Sure, Pederson’s blast was convincing, but Patino got Will Smith to pop out and then struck out Kike Hernandez on four pitches after that. Jayce Tingler let him go another inning, with Francisco Mejia replacing Austin Hedges between innings, and the Padres top prospect made quick work of the Dodgers lineup in the seventh.

AJ Pollock and Justin Turner hit pop-ups with Max Muncy striking out on four pitches sandwiched between the two. I think going forward, Patino will have to make better use of all his pitches. Of the 32 thrown, 75 percent were fastballs with sliders (19 percent) and sinkers (6 percent) making up the rest.