BOSTON — Mason Miller started Masataka Yoshida off with a 100.5 mph fastball. The Red Sox pinch-hitter saw from the on-deck circle the 88.1 mph slider that got Wilyer Abreu swinging.

But he couldn’t have seen this coming:

A 95.2 mph … change-up?

Miller had thrown only one so far this season and it was an uncompetitive pitch against the Giants.

Yoshida at least got a piece of it. Then he whiffed at a second changeup well out of the strike zone, almost as if he was expecting the offering to end up somewhere else.

Miller can already touch 104 mph with his four-seamer. He used only his slider in throwing an immaculate inning last year and while striking out Eastlake High grad Marcelo Mayer to end Saturday’s game. It’s almost unfair to add a new wrinkle with a changeup, even as firm as it is.

“That’s the idea,” Miller said with a smile after a 1-2-3 ninth in the Padres’ 3-2 win over the Red Sox on Saturday evening at Fenway Park.

Miller had taken to toying with the addition in spring training in recent years, only to essentially mothball the pitch. He threw 22 last year, 21 of them to left-handed hitters like Yoshida.

The Padres’ closer admits the pitch is a work-in-progress, but you can’t make progress without work.

“You’re not going to feel comfortable in the game unless you do it,” Miller said.

He added: “Time and place for it. If the matchup’s good, I’m not afraid to throw it.”

 

Staying warm, ready

Ty France was born in Downey, prepped at West Covina South Hills High and was drafted by the Padres out of San Diego State.

He’s a Southern California kid, through and through, if you couldn’t tell by the ski mask he had pulled over mouth and nose throughout a contest in which the windchill dropped the temperature into the high 20s, the only Padre to go to such extremes on Saturday.

He learned how to handle such hardships while starting the 2025 season in Minnesota.

“It keeps your face and ears out of the wind, because once that wind picks up, that’s when it gets pretty chilly,” France said. “ … The hardest part was the cold breath. You can see it when you breathe out, the cold breath as the guy was about to pitch, so I was trying to take short breaths.”

He certainly wasn’t distracted at the plate.

France’s first hit of the season was a 107 mph “single” off the Green Monster in the second inning. He wound up scoring on Bryce Johnson’s groundout to shortstop.

It was France’s only hit in four at-bats, but he had a 102 mph groundout with runners on second and third in the third inning and had a 100 mph flyout to right in the sixth inning, remarkably well-hit balls for someone who hadn’t had a plate appearance since his only start on March 27 (he was 0-for-3).

“Stay ready, just preparation,” France said of his mindset while on the bench the last week. “Fortunately we were home, so I got a lot of at-bats off the (pitching machine). Just do the best you can to stay ready. You never know when you’re going to be called on, so you do what you can.”

Left and right

The right-handed-hitting Miguel Andujar began the season 1-for-6 against left-handed pitching, but an otherworldly .389/.409/.578 line last year against southpaws had something to do with Padres manager Craig Stammen pushing him to third in the order against Red Sox left-hander Connelly Early.

Andujar rewarded the move with a third-inning double to set up the Padres’ second run of the game. But Andujar also contributed singles off two different right-handed relievers, proof he is no one-trick pony.

“I can hit well against righties too,” said Andujar, who entered the game with a career .802 OPS against lefties and a .733 OPS against righties. “At the end of the day I just want to contribute to the team, whatever the team needs to win games.

Notable

LHP Yuki Matsui (groin) is joining RHPs Matt Waldron (surgery), Griffin Canning (Achilles) and Jason Adam (quad) and INF Sung-Mun Song (oblique) for a rehab assignment. Adam is expected to throw back-to-back days before his potential activation on April 8, or perhaps after the road trip. Canning was set to start Saturday. Song has played second base, third and shortstop while playing every day. Waldron has thrown seven scoreless innings across two starts.