Fans crown Michael King as royalty after historic Padres shutout

San Diego Padres ace Michael King was on song, pitching his first career complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. With the win, the Padres became the first team in eight years to complete a three-game series sweep with shutouts.

King allowed only two hits and one walk in the game while striking out eight. His pitching performance was the best starting arm of the day, above the likes of Cole Ragans, Garrett Crochet, Kodai Senga and Hunter Greene, who all impressed for their respective teams.

"Plenty of awesome starting pitching performances today 💪" MLB posted.

Fans treated him as royalty in the comments section.

"Michael my glorious king," one fan wrote.

"Yes king," another commented.

"King > all other pitchers today," another added.

More fans came to hail King after his masterful performance.

"King >>>" another added.

"Mike 👑!!!! Above ALL!!!!" another said.

"👑"

Here are the reactions:

Fan Reactions

Michael King hailed by manager after his complete game shutout vs Rockies

Padres manager Mike Shildt mostly stayed away from the bullpen phone on Sunday. King made his task easier as he enjoyed Sunday's game without stress.

King helped the Padres join the 1966 Cleveland Indians to become the second team in MLB history to notch six shutouts in its first 16 games.

King needed 110 pitches to go through all 27 outs. However, he lamented that eighth inning walk.

“Really mad about that walk,” King said. “They’re a very aggressive team. You’ve got to feed off that.”

Padres manager Mike Shildt hailed the starting pitcher as well.

“You can’t be much better than that,” Shildt said. “That’s top-of-the-line, grade-A, ace stuff. [He was] in command the whole way.”

The eighth inning walk was the lone moment in the game when Shildt had to ask the bullpen to start warming up. But King responded with a quick strikeout of Zac Veen, leaving no room for Shildt to not let him pitch in the ninth.

“I told Shildt, ‘Don’t think about it,'” King said.

Shildt was not about to stop getting King his deserved complete game victory.

“The rope was there,” Shildt said. “He had earned it.”

Credit goes to the combination of King and his catcher, Elias Díaz, who said:

“We have a really good game plan. And we execute it.”

On Monday, the Padres will have the opportunity to register four consecutive shutout victories for only the second time in franchise history since 1984. They'll face the Chicago Cubs at Petco Park.