Chris Paddack was looking for a comeback and was for the first time facing a team for the second time.
As he warmed up before the first inning, a song by Johnny Cash, which Paddack chose, played throughout Petco Park.
It was about the second coming — the four beasts, thunder, a white horse.
Then the glaring 23-year-old rookie, the man in the black glove, got back to throwing strikes, early and often.
Other than delivering two of them a little too fat in the third inning, Paddack accomplished what he wanted in his first start since his worst start.