PHOENIX _ Garrett Richards finished his warm up Saturday by allowing one run in 3 1/3 innings at the start of the San Diego Padres' 6-5 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
He and the Padres believe he will be better next season for what he did in three starts this month in his return from Tommy John surgery.
And the Padres believe their young pitching staff will be better just by having the intense veteran around.
Already, Richards has let Chris Paddack know it will be a competition in spring training to see who gets the opening day start.
"This guy has fire," interim manager Rod Barajas said before Saturday's game against the Diamondbacks. "... We really don't have that veteran figure in the rotation. We've relied on all the young guys. They're learning and getting better. But having that voice, that leadership is huge. We've lacked that all season long. You see the fire, the intensity, the passion he brings to pitching. It's going to be great for these young guys to learn (from) him."
Richards on Saturday continued to assimilate to working in a major league game with a newly healthy elbow and pain free for the first time since early 2016.
The right-hander had his toughest night in terms of finding the strike zone, walking four batters and throwing just half his 58 pitches for strikes. But he was also dominant for stretches, especially with his slider and two different fastballs that were still topping 95 mph in the fourth inning.
The only hit he allowed Saturday was Christian Walker's home run on a hanging curve ball in the second inning. His four strikeouts gave him 11 in 8 2/3 innings this season.
Walker's grand slam off rookie David Bednar in the seventh inning turned a 5-2 Padres lead into a 6-5 Diamondbacks lead.
The 31-year-old Richards was 45-39 with a 3.54 ERA in eight seasons with the Angels before signing a two-year, $15.5 million contract with the Padres in December. The 753 1/3 innings he has thrown in his career are just 233 fewer than the combined total thrown by Dinelson Lamet, Eric Lauer, Joey Lucchesi, Cal Quantrill and Paddack.
Michel Baez was signed out of Cuba in 2016 with the belief he would be a starter and was a starter in the minor leagues before being called up in July to pitch out of a Padres bullpen that desperately needed the help.
Many in the organization believe the intention is to move Baez to the rotation at some point, largely because he throws too many different types of effective pitches to be confined to an inning or two at a time.
Baez will start Sunday's season finale, though he will likely go two or three innings. He has not thrown more than 41 pitches in any of his 23 big-league appearances.
The 23-year-old right-hander has a 3.25 ERA in 27 2/3 innings, though six of the 10 earned runs he has allowed came when he surrendered three runs in back-to-back outings in mid-August.
