It didn’t take Mason Miller long to contribute to the San Diego Padres’ stacked bullpen.
The Athletics’ former closer, traded to the Padres on Thursday in a stunning six-player deal, threw a scoreless eighth inning Friday night during a 4-1 victory over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
Miller might be back in action Saturday night when the three-game series continues in San Diego and the Padres seek their seventh straight win.
Miller, who compiled 20 saves for the Athletics this season, gave up two quick singles before using his 101-mph fastball to get a strikeout of Jordan Walker. That was followed by a double play ball, teeing up Robert Suarez for his MLB-high 31st save.
With Miller, Suarez, Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada available, Padres manager Mike Shildt has several tasty options to shut down games.
“We’ll use them and deploy them like we have all year, and we’ve been pretty judicious with that, of putting them in good spots to succeed,” Shildt said.
The Padres’ bullpen has been particularly busy in Randy Vasquez’s 21 starts this year, although the right-hander — who is scheduled to start on Saturday — hasn’t pitched badly. In fact, the team’s 14-7 record in his outings this year tops the 14-8 mark in Nick Pivetta’s starts.
Vasquez’s previous outing last Saturday at St. Louis was typical of his season. He went 4 2/3 innings, allowing only one run on one hit with a walk and two strikeouts during San Diego’s 3-1 win. The bullpen shut down the Cardinals over the last 4 1/3 innings, with Estrada drawing the win.
Vasquez (3-4, 3.65 ERA) is 1-0 with a 2.53 ERA in two career starts against St. Louis, which has totaled just one run in its last three games — all losses.
While the Padres look to continue their postseason push, Michael McGreevy (2-2, 4.91 ERA) will try to exact revenge after a rough outing against them on Sunday. The 25-year-old right-hander was knocked around during a 9-2 loss, permitting seven runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings while walking and striking out two.
McGreevy also hopes for better defense than the Cardinals played Friday night. Two errors on a Jose Iglesias grounder helped San Diego score four runs in the fifth inning.
Throwing errors by third baseman Nolan Gorman and first baseman Willson Contreras led to three unearned runs in the inning. Gorman was starting at third because Nolan Arenado hit the injured list Friday due to a strained right shoulder.
It’s not known how much time Arenado will miss, although he’s suffering through the worst offensive season of his career. Before the injury, he was hitting only .235 with 10 homers and 43 RBIs. His last homer came on June 21.
John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, told MLB.com the team would prioritize playing time for Gorman and recent call-up Thomas Saggese over the last two months of the season.
“We’re going to try to find at-bats for Nolan Gorman the best we can,” Mozeliak said. “These things tend to work themselves out over time.”
Gorman, who has missed time with back problems this year, went 1-for-3 on Friday night.