Michael King took the loss Tuesday after the Cardinals tagged him for three runs in 4.1 innings. He allowed five hits and three walks, struck out one batter and hit one more, leaving him with another short outing and another dent in his recent line.
The setback matters because it was not an isolated wobble. King followed a quality start against the Reds on June 10 with a night in which he could not get out of the fifth inning, and his last five starts now include at least three earned runs every time. Over that stretch, he has a 6.41 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP across 26.2 innings, the kind of run that turns a good arm into a risky one in short order.
That is what made Tuesday the search-term game: King needed to steady himself, and instead the numbers kept sliding the wrong way. A five-start run with at least three earned runs in each outing is not a normal line for him, even if it is only five starts, because an ERA above six over that span tells the story of traffic, missed spots and too many innings spent trying to escape trouble.
The sharp part is the swing from June 10 to now. One outing ago, King had given the Reds a quality start; against the Cardinals, he was working from behind early, labored through 4.1 innings and came away with the loss. That kind of back-to-back split leaves little room for comfort, especially when the next turn is expected to come at home against Atlanta next week.
Whether King can use that next start to stop the slide is the question hanging over him now. If he repeats the pattern, the recent numbers will keep shaping how he is viewed every time he takes the ball. If he settles in, Tuesday may be remembered as the start of a correction rather than the point where the slump deepened.
