CRAIG’S COMMENTS: Speaking of building off being one hit; plus thoughts on King, Tatis, Peralta

Michael King at Busch Stadium

The Padres were held to one hit Monday night. But manager Craig Stammen said teams can learn from every game, good or bad:

“No matter how good it is, you put every game behind you,” Stammen said at the start of Tuesday’s pregame media session. “But you have to try to learn from it, good or bad. And there are things we can take from yesterday.

“I don’t know what exactly that is, but we can take something from it because we’re going to face pitchers like that when they are on and we have to find a way to battle. We kept it close last night. It was a battle. But if it’s the playoffs or a game we need to win, we have to find a way to be a little bit more creative and scratch runs across and create some havoc on the base paths.”

Stammen then turned to the Padres’ Tuesday night starter in St. Louis, Michael King:

“Michael King is the leader of our staff right now,” said Stammen. “He’s very important. We need him to pitch at his best. I think he’s been pitching well all season. There are a few games here and there that haven’t worked out that well for him. But he’s a guy that we rely on and think can go deep into games.”

Stammen then talked about the recent play and at-bats of Fernando Tatis Jr., who has reached base in 10 straight games:

“He’s had a lot of really good at-bats like he had Monday night,” said Stammen. “Even his first at-bat of the game was like that, he just didn’t finish it off on the 3-and-2 count and grounded out. Honestly, that’s the kind of at-bat we needed from everybody in our lineup throughout the day yesterday.

“That type of at-bat that Fernando had in the first and the seventh, those were the type of at-bats we were looking for, not just from Fernando but for everybody one through nine. Fernando has pretty much been locked in on those kinds of at-bats for the last month. We’ve felt pretty good about what he’s done for us in the lead-off spot. He’s been very patient but also very aggressive in certain spots. He’s playing the game really well right now.”

Stammen then discussed left-handed reliever Wandy Peralta, who had a perfect inning as the opener ahead of Lucas Giolito Monday:

“Wandy’s done it before,” said Stammen. “He’s been in about every situation you can put a pitcher in during his career. That helps. He’s a veteran. And I think he wants to pitch more games that are in the balance. And so, we’re trying to give him more opportunities to do that.

“Using him as the opener is one way to get that done with Wandy. But he’s also able to get righties and lefties out. There’s not a huge drop off against righties from a left-handed pitcher in his case, it’s actually kind of the opposite. We feel he has the ability to get hitters from both sides of the plate out. That’s a good trait to have as an opener.

“I think I’ve felt comfortable with Wandy from the start of the season. It’s just trying to find what is the best role for him and what allows him to have the most success. Part of that is we have a really good bullpen with a lot of back end guys that are probably ahead of him when we’re winning games in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. But he’s the guy who is right behind those guys when they need a break. He’s the next guy in for us in leverage situations.”

Stammen said it is status quo with catcher Freddy Fermin (concussion protocol) and designated hitter Miguel Andujar (hamstring): “They’re ramping up activity. Hopefully, we get Andujar back soon after the 10 days are over or right at it.”