Dallas Keuchel was making his sixth start for the Braves on Friday night.
In his first five, he had gotten grounders on 59.3 percent of the balls opponents had put in play.
That would have been the second-highest rate in the major leagues had Kuechel thrown enough innings to qualify among the leaders. It’s the recipe by which the left-hander won the American League Cy Young award in 2015 and posted a 3.28 ERA over 950 innings the past five seasons.
“He’s always been a tough guy to get in the air,” Padres manager Andy Green said before the game.