SAN DIEGO _ Chris Paddack let loose the fastest pitch of his major league career and a second later hollered and stalked off the mound after Pete Alonso had swung underneath the fastball at his shoulders for strike three.
Paddack wasn't pleased Alonso won the National League Rookie of the Month award for April.
That's who is on the mound for the San Diego Padres every six days or so now, an angry man who turns perceived slights into motivation and takes the mound with the intent to dominate.
Paddack on Monday night against the New York Mets, in a match-up with reigning Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, was the best he's been. And he's been to this point the best pitcher the Padres have had in some time.
Paddack became the major leagues' first rookie in 113 years to allow four or fewer hits in the first seven games of his career and for the second time in three starts threw at least seven shutout innings.
The 23-year-old right-hander struck out 11 and allowed four hits in 7 2/3 innings, and Craig Stammen closed out a 4-0 Padres victory.
The Padres have beat deGrom before. They have had pitchers throw excellent games plenty of times.
The difference with Paddack is it is expected every time.
"It's definitely nice to have one of those guys where it's, 'All right, here we go. This is our guy,' " Wil Myers said before the game. "... It's like, 'It's Paddack today.' It's nice to know. You enjoy coming to the ballpark knowing you've got that guy on the mound."
It's who they finally have when the other team is bringing deGrom.
"We've got our guy on the mound," catcher Austin Hedges said. "And they've got their guy on the mound."
Just that _ that the Padres' "guy" is someone they are confident will give them a chance and just might dominate every single time he takes the mound _ is another sign of how the Padres have advanced and where they seem to be heading.
They could talk up Clayton Richard or whatever other journeyman was the staff "ace" year after year since Jake Peavy was traded in the middle of 2009. The Padres have not had a true ace for a decade.
Monday was Paddack's seventh start. To call him an ace would be premature.
Maybe. Or maybe not anymore.
What he did Monday was what an ace does, and it really wasn't that different from what he's done since he made his major league debut on the fourth day of the season.
He entered the game leading the majors in opponent batting average, opponent on-base percentage, and WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched). His 1.91 ERA ranked third.
Forget Rookie of the Month or even Rookie of the Year. He's putting up Cy Young numbers.
Monday was the second time he matched up against an opposing pitcher who has that particular hardware. It was the second time Paddack did so favorably.
Against Seattle and Felix Hernandez on April 24, he allowed one hit over seven shutout innings while striking out nine in a 1-0 victory.
Monday, Paddack was better than that.
He threw harder. He had all the control he's exhibited throughout.
He threw a first-pitch strike to 24 of the 28 batters he faced. He threw two balls to seven batters and three balls to just one of those. Of his career-high 91 pitches, 66 were strikes.
He struck out Alonso in the third and got him on a grounder to third base in the fifth. Alonso was on deck when Stammen replaced Paddack with two outs in the eighth, and Stammen struck him out.
Meanwhile, deGrom did not allow a hit until Greg Garcia's single leading off the fourth inning. The next hit the Padres got was Hunter Renfroe's line drive into the left field seats on the first pitch of the fifth inning.
The Padres' other two hits off deGrom came in the seventh inning _ a single by Hosmer and double by Renfroe that was followed by Ty France's sacrifice fly. The Mets' ace would strike out seven in his seven innings.
The Padres added two runs in the eighth on Hosmer's two-out double against Justin Wilson.
Paddack got through seven innings on 82 pitches, seven shy of his high and having matched his season high for innings.
He was in the on deck circle when Austin Hedges lined out to end the seventh inning, and so his emergence from the dugout was delayed slightly. His bounding from the top step of the dugout was met with some cheers.
He promptly recorded his 11th strikeout, getting Juan Lagares swinging.
As Stammen and Phil Maton threw warm-up pitches and watched from the bullpen, Todd Frazier grounded out to Hosmer.
Jeff McNeil's single down the line that bounced off a diving Hosmer's glove brought Padres manager Andy Green out of the dugout to get Paddack.
After initially booing Green, the Padres fans in the crowd came to their feet for a sustained cheer as Paddack walked off the field pounding his fist into his glove.
