(Photo credit: Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images)

With an 8-2 record and a 3.57 ERA, Boston Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito is enjoying a bounce-back season after missing the 2024 campaign due to surgery on his right elbow.

Giolito will try to keep his success going on Saturday when he faces the host San Diego Padres.

In his last start, Giolito rolled to a 6-1 win Sunday against Houston, permitting just three hits and a run over eight innings while walking one and striking out four. He threw 103 pitches to continue an extended run of brilliance.

In his last 10 starts, dating to June 10, he's 7-1 with a 2.03 ERA. Sunday's outing marked the first time in four years he's completed eight innings in a game.

Giolito's recent excellence might have been part of the reason Boston opted not to break the bank for a big-name starter to slot behind ace Garrett Crochet at the trade deadline last week.

'Within this clubhouse, we have a big belief in each other,' Giolito, 31, told to MLB.com. 'We have belief in ourselves. No matter how the deadline ended up, we know we're a very good baseball team. We can win a lot of games.'

Friday night's 10-2 rout of San Diego in the opener of the three-game series was Boston's eighth win in nine games. The Red Sox had 10 hits, drew eight walks and handed Padres ace Nick Pivetta his first loss at Petco Park this year.

While Giolito will face San Diego for just the second time in his career, the Padres' starter, right-hander Michael King (4-2, 2.59 ERA), can draw on 13 career outings against the Red Sox to form a game plan for his first start since May 18, a 6-1 loss to Seattle.

King hit the injured list after being scratched from his May 24 start in Atlanta and has been out with a long thoracic nerve issue that affected the strength in his right shoulder. King resumed playing catch in late June and ramped up his preparation late last month.

Taking a rehab start on Sunday for Triple-A El Paso, King was predictably rusty, allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings to go with five strikeouts during a 61-pitch effort.

'Definitely missed a couple of spots,' King told MLB.com on Friday about his rehab outing. 'I definitely feel confident going into tomorrow. Just trying to be now as efficient as I possibly can with the pitch count that I have.'

It would be surprising if King is allowed to throw more than 75 pitches on Saturday. That's why Padres manager Mike Shildt let Pivetta toss 103 pitches over six innings Friday night, and why Shildt had Sean Reynolds take one for the team in a walk-plagued two-inning stint at the end. Reynolds issued five walks in those two innings.

Still, Shildt expressed happiness following Friday night's loss that King will be back on the mound.

'Seeing Michael King on the mound will make it a good day for us,' he said.

King is 3-4 with a 4.54 ERA in his career against Boston, while Giolito is 0-0 against the Padres, having given up four runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings in his one appearance, in 2016.

--Field Level Media