ATLANTA — The Padres will be without Michael King for at least the next two times through the rotation.
The right-hander, who was scratched shortly before his scheduled start Saturday, was placed on the 15-day injured list with what the team termed shoulder inflammation.
The discomfort he feels is in the scapula area.
“We’re still in a little bit more the discovery phase with what this is,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “It’s not an overly common situation. … We’ll get back to San Diego, and we’ll evaluate over the next couple of days and see where it takes us.”
King was not available for comment Sunday.
Multiple sources said King, whose 2.59 ERA ranks seventh in the National League, did not feel any issues in his shoulder before sleeping with the arm in an awkward position on Friday night. He woke up Saturday feeling a “knot” in his shoulder.
“He’s got something going on with the scap that we’re trying to locate — just some weakness in that area,” Shildt said. “And that’s a pretty important area for the pitcher.”
The scapula is the shoulder blade, and the area around it is muscle. King will be examined by doctors Monday. The Padres will know more then, but they believe as long as it is simply a muscular issue he could return after the minimum stay on the IL.
The move is retroactive to Thursday (three days is the most the beginning of an IL stint can be back-dated) so King would be eligible to come off the IL on June 6.
The Padres will recall one of their Triple-A pitchers in the coming days.
There is never a good time to be without a top starter. This timing is particularly bad.
The Padres play all but one day before June 6, a total of 10 games in 11 days. Beyond that, they play 16 of the next 17 days and 29 of the next 31 days.
There is also uncertainty about starting pitcher Yu Darvish, though there should be more clarity in the coming day. Darvish was scheduled to have his right elbow examined by doctors this weekend to affirm it is sound.
Darvish appeared to be on the verge of returning when he threw well in a rehab start in Triple-A on May 14. However, he has felt tightness in his elbow since then and does not feel comfortable coming back and trying to pitch every six days. And the team has let the 38-year-old Darvish take the lead on his recovery and the timing of his return.
With King and Darvish healthy, the Padres would almost certainly have gone to a six-man rotation during their stretch with so few days off. While that is a strategy to enhance pitchers’ rest, it does require having six reliable starters. So it is not known what they will do if King is out beyond June 6.
In the meantime, they fortified their bullpen.
Left-handed reliever Omar Cruz was recalled from Triple-A to take King’s spot on the roster. Cruz allowed two runs in 3⅔ innings with the Padres in April.
The Padres also optioned Alek Jacob to Triple-A in the wake of Saturday’s bullpen game. Jacob threw 33 pitches over 1⅔ innings Saturday and had pitched four times in seven days. David Morgan was recalled from Triple-A. Morgan spent a week with the Padres last month but has yet to appear in a major league game.
