Some soreness might have been expected a day after Yuki Matsui threw a career-high 2 ⅔ innings in his 2026 debut on Friday, but it was nothing that the 30-year-old left-hander didn’t expect.

One of the reasons he spent the entirety of his 30-day rehab window at Triple-A El Paso was to mirror the 10 spring training appearances that he made last year. The other, once the groin was healthy, was to build up to take over the long-man role that had belonged to Kyle Hart to start the season.

Matsui’s first eight appearances in the Pacific Coast League last month were an inning or shorter. Then he threw two innings on April 26, an inning on April 29 and two more innings on May 2.

Matsui was activated in San Francisco on Tuesday but had to wait until Friday to get into a game. He was more than ready to throw 38 pitches, matching a career high, over the 2 ⅔-inning appearance.

“He was well-rested, so we needed him to cover a few innings,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “I do think he’s going to fill a similar role to Kyle Hart. (Friday) night is probably about as much as he’ll throw in one game and … that’s kind of his capacity. I thought he came in and did a great job.”

Matsui replaced Griffin Canning in the fifth inning on Friday and promptly allowed a run-scoring single to Nolan Gorman and a sacrifice fly to Masyn Winn to close the book on the starting pitcher. The inning ultimately came to an end when Freddy Fermin threw out Jordan Walker trying to steal third base.

Matsui then retired the side in order in the sixth and struck out two in the seventh while working around two singles and a walk.

It’s quite a different role than Matsui expected after signing before the 2024 season with 236 saves in Japan on his resume. That’s to be expected with Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller trading for the likes of Tanner Scott, Jason Adam and Mason Miller over the last two years, but Matsui is also keeping his focus on what he controls.

“First off, we’ve got one of the best bullpens in the league,” Matsui said through interpreter Ike Ogata. “For me to be able to potentially take one of these high-level situation roles, it’s not only like getting ahead of the counts and getting two strikes, which I was able to do that last night, but also executing pitches after two strikes and getting the guys out.”

Matsui has a 3.78 ERA in 128 ⅔ innings in the majors. He has struck out 132, walked 61 and allowed opposing hitters a .218/.304/.397 batting line.

Matsui had a 2.43 ERA in 10 years in Japan.

Back two it

Fernando Tatis Jr. began the week in the No. 2 hole in San Francisco, was dropped to fifth in the lineup on Tuesday for the first time since his rookie year and was in that spot three times time in four days.

But on Saturday, Tatis was back in the two-hole without a significant breakthrough in his search for a home run or power in general.

Still, Stammen liked what he saw in the quality of at-bat in going 0-for-2 with a walk in Friday’s one-hit loss.

That and the search for sustained offense led the rookie manager to want to see what a one-two punch of Jackson Merrill and Tatis atop the order would look like. (The two previously combined for a 1-for-6 day in those spots in a 5-4 loss to the Cubs on April 29.

“I liked his at-bats, honestly, the last few days,” Stammen said Saturday afternoon. “I felt like he’s definitely making some good decisions at the plate, and he’s been working hard in the cage, making some adjustments. And I also think the pitchers fear him, even if he’s not hitting as many home runs as we expect.”

Notable

RHP Ty Adcock (shoulder) is beginning a rehab assignment in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League.
New USD men’s basketball coach JR Blount threw out the ceremonial first pitch.