Tatis hits 2-run homer, King strikes out 12 as the Padres beat the Braves 4-0 in playoff opener

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a towering two-run homer on his first playoff swing in four years and Michael King struck out 12 in his first postseason start as the San Diego Padres beat rookie AJ Smith-Shawver and the Atlanta Braves 4-0 in Game 1 of their NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday night.

Tatis' 415-foot shot in the first inning landed in the second deck in left field at Petco Park and sent the towel-waving, sellout crowd of 47,647 into a frenzy. The 25-year-old star, who missed just more than 2 1/2 months this season with a stress reaction in his right thighbone, watched the ball fly away, tossed his bat aside, gestured toward the home dugout and did his signature stutter step around third base.

“It’s beautiful energy. I love this type of situation,” Tatis said. “It definitely brings the best out of me. And just looking forward to way more experiences like this.”

He said he was hunting a fastball.

“I was going for it probably before he released the pitch. But looking for my fastball, he left it over the plate, and had definitely great results,” Tatis said. “I knew it was going to go out. I didn’t know it was going to land in the second deck just because how high it was.”

Game 2 in the best-of-three playoff is Wednesday night. If the Padres win the series, they'll face their biggest rivals, the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers, in the National League Division Series. The Padres eliminated the 111-win Dodgers in a 2022 NLDS.

King was brilliant in becoming the first pitcher to have 12 strikeouts with no runs or walks allowed in his first career postseason start. He permitted five hits and joined Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock as the only Padres pitchers with double-digit strikeouts in a playoff game.

At 2 hours, 9 minutes, it was the fastest postseason game since Greg Maddux and the Braves beat the Dodgers in 2:08 during a 1996 NL Division Series.

“I think I dreamed of a perfect game instead of a few hits that I gave up,” said King, who came over in the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to the New York Yankees in December. “But I mean, to get up 1-0 in a three-game series is huge. That was the goal and we accomplished that. We've got our horse Joe (Musgrove) tomorrow and I’ve got a lot of confidence in us.”

King made his postseason debut with the Yankees in the AL playoff bubble in 2020 at eerily empty Petco Park, where the only “fans” were a few thousand cardboard cutouts. He pitched two innings in a Game 3 loss during a Division Series that Tampa Bay won in five games.

Getting the quick 2-0 lead “made it so I could really attack on my fastball and stay ahead in the counts and really put the pressure on,” King said. “Feeling the crowd noise, knowing how big postseason games are, it all played into my mentality throughout the whole game.”

The Braves clinched a playoff berth by winning the second game of a makeup doubleheader against the New York Mets on Monday in Atlanta. But they are without NL Cy Young Award favorite Chris Sale for this series. The left-hander was scratched from the late game Monday with back spasms.

Atlanta played 27 innings on opposite coasts in a little more than 24 hours.

Tatis homered on a 94 mph four-seamer from the 21-year-old Smith-Shawver, one of the Braves' top prospects. He was making his first playoff start and just his second this season.

Luis Arraez was aboard on a leadoff single. Arraez, obtained in a trade with Miami in early May, became the first player since the 1800s to win batting titles with three teams.

Tatis experienced his first postseason game with fans in the stands. His first playoffs were in 2020 after the pandemic-shortened season. He missed San Diego's run to the 2022 National League Championship Series after receiving an 80-game PED suspension from MLB that August.

His home run came on the anniversary of his two homers in a 2020 Wild Card Series game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Mike Shildt, in his first season managing the Padres, was St. Louis' skipper then.

Kyle Higashioka homered in the eighth and had a sacrifice fly in the second. He is 3 for 30 against Atlanta, with three homers.

San Diego was the only one of the four home teams to win its playoff opener Tuesday.

Smith-Shawver allowed three runs and four hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Braves manager Brian Snitker said Smith-Shawver didn't know he was starting until the skipper called him Tuesday morning.

“It wasn’t because of who we started that we didn’t win this game,” Snitker said. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively.”

Said Smith-Shawver: “There are obviously nerves, but also it is where you want to be throwing and sometimes it doesn’t work out your way. But I don’t think nerves were the issue today.”

TRAINER'S ROOM

Braves: Snitker said he spoke with Sale on Tuesday: “He's not feeling real good. He wanted to be here pitching. Unfortunately, he can't. It's tough for him. He was realistic with us in how he felt.”

UP NEXT

Braves LHP Max Fried (11-10, 3.25 ERA) and Musgrove (6-5, 3.88) are scheduled to start Wednesday night. Fried is a former Padres farmhand. Musgrove grew up in suburban El Cajon.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

San Diego Padres' Donovan Solano reacts after connecting for a single during the second inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Jesse Chavez throws to a San Diego Padres batter during the sixth inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves' Travis d'Arnaud (16) slides into second base with a double before the tag attempt from San Diego Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth during the fourth inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Jackson Merrill, left, is out at first base on a ground ball behind Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Aaron Bummer during the fourth inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Jake Cronenworth scores on a sacrifice fly ball from Kyle Higashioka during the second inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Aaron Bummer throws to a San Diego Padres batter during the second inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves' Orlando Arcia reacts after dodging an inside pitch during the third inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Luke Jackson stands on the mound after giving up a solo home run to San Diego Padres' Kyle Higashioka during the eighth inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves' Orlando Arcia tosses his bat as he flies out during the fifth inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the San Diego Padres,Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves left fielder Ramón Laureano watches a home run from San Diego Padres' Kyle Higashioka go over the wall during the eighth inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Luke Jackson stands on the mound after giving up a solo home run to San Diego Padres' Kyle Higashioka during the eighth inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Michael King walks off the mound after getting the third out during the sixth inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Michael King throws to a Atlanta Braves batter during the first inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. runs onto the field at the start of Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. is introduced before Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr., right, celebrates with Luis Arraez (4) after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. celebrates after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. tosses his bat after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A trio of new trials — a devastating hurricane, expanding conflict in the Mideast and a dockworkers strike that threatens the U.S. economy — are looming over the final weeks of the presidential campaign and could help shape the public mood as voters decide between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

How events shake out — and how the candidates respond — could be decisive as they claw for votes in battleground states.

The sitting president, Joe Biden, is still the steward of a U.S. economy and foreign policy at this tumultuous moment and may well bear ultimate responsibility for how they play out. But how Harris and Trump approach the three disparate issues could have rippling impact on how Americans perceive their two choices this November.

“Unfortunately, there are going to be events like this, and this is where you see the leadership of a president show up,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday. “I think this should send a message to Americans: It matters. It matters who sits behind the Resolute Desk.”

Harris, with Biden's help, is trying to display steady calm as a flurry of difficult problems arise all at once.

She and Biden on Tuesday toggled between directing Hurricane Helene recovery and rescue response work and huddling with aides in the White House Situation Room to watch as the U.S. helped Israel defend against a massive attack by Iran in retaliation for the killing of Tehran-backed leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah.

All the while, they were keeping close contact with economic advisers as dockworkers took to the picket line Tuesday, a walkout stretching from ports in Maine to Texas that threatens to snarl supply chains and cause shortages and higher prices if it stretches on for more than a few weeks.

Trump, for his part, lashed out at Harris as in over her head, while claiming that this sort of crush of problems never would have happened under his watch.

“We have been talking about World War III, and I don’t want to make predictions,” Trump said at a campaign event in Wisconsin. “The whole world is laughing at us. That’s why Israel was under attack just a little while ago. Because they don’t respect our country anymore.”

Yet voters cast Trump aside four years ago in large part because of how they viewed his handling of the swirling economic, social and public health challenges that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden, in comments to reporters before meeting with aides Tuesday to discuss the ongoing hurricane response, seemed to acknowledge the growing frustration with the federal response to the massive storm.

“I’ve been in frequent contact with the governors and other leaders in the impacted areas, and we have to jumpstart this recovery process,” Biden said. He will travel to the Carolinas on Wednesday to get a closer look at the hurricane devastation. He is also expected to visit hurricane-impacted areas in Georgia and Florida later this week. “People are scared to death. People wonder whether they’re going to make it.”

Harris, meanwhile, is headed to Georgia on Wednesday and North Carolina in the coming days to do the same.

Tuesday's vice presidential debate offered a sampling of how the two campaigns were reacting to new developments to bolster their own messages and sharpen their attacks on their rivals. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz promised “steady leadership” under Harris while Ohio Sen. JD Vance pledged a return to “peace through strength” if Trump is returned to the White House.

Biden has stayed off the campaign trail since announcing in July that he was ending his reelection effort amid sliding public approval ratings.

His conspicuous absence underscores that Democrats see him as more of a liability than an asset in making the case for Harris, said Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Pennsylvania.

But how well Biden deals with the three latest emergency situations could have a big impact in how undecided voters perceive Harris in these final days.

“President Biden can't help Kamala Harris on the stump,” Borick said. “But in a campaign where you are turning over every rock in a few states to get that undecided voter, how he manages these crises over the next several weeks could have an impact.”

The Harris campaign understands the risks it faces with multiple crises converging all at once, especially given their varied and unpredictable nature. A prolonged strike, a bungled disaster response or a further expansion of Middle East conflict could raise doubts about Biden's leadership, and by extension that of his second-in-command.

At the same time, Harris campaign aides believe the perilous moment presents an opportunity to demonstrate to voters the stakes of who’s in the job and the seriousness with which they approach it, according to campaign officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking.

The former president, in a speech in Waunakee, Wisconsin, and in social media postings Tuesday, offered a mixture of prayer and concern for those impacted by Helene, jabs at Harris for the dockworkers strike, and an aside about the casting of Stanley Kubrick's film “Full Metal Jacket.”

“The situation should have never come to this and, had I been president, it would not have," Trump said in a statement about the strike.

Harris aides made a point of having the vice president deliver brief remarks on the Iranian attack Tuesday in between taping interviews for her campaign, aiming to portray her as ready to take command.

Late-term tumult has been fixture in American presidential politics, sometimes in the form of scandal and other times with an incumbent hoping to demonstrate that he or his preferred successor would be a steady head at an uncertain time.

George W. Bush pushed a rescue package through Congress to stabilize a reeling financial system by creating the Troubled Asset Relief Program amid fears that the economy was on the verge of collapse. The broader economic conditions didn't help Republican John McCain in the race he lost to Barack Obama.

Jimmy Carter's reelection campaign in 1980 was paralyzed by the Iran hostage crisis. Fifty-two hostages were released on January 20, 1981, soon after his successor, Ronald Reagan, was inaugurated.

Lyndon Johnson announced a halting of bombings in North Vietnam days before the 1968 election, a step he hoped would bring the conflict toward a peace settlement. But the South Vietnamese indicated they would not negotiate and Johnson's vice president, Hubert Humphrey, lost narrowly to Republican Richard Nixon.

“The efforts by incumbents to help themselves or their party's nominee with ‘October surprises’ go back quite a ways,” said Edward Frantz, a University of Indianapolis historian. “In this current climate, I'm not sure how many voters can be persuaded by a candidate this late in the game trying to show competency.”

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. AP writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

In this combination of photos taken in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event, Aug. 18, 2024, in Rochester, left, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event, Aug. 19, 2024, in York. (AP Photo)