Waldron honors his inspiration as he brings knuckleball back to Fenway

BOSTON -- Matt Waldron brought the knuckleball back to Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon. Only, here’s the thing about the knuckleball: It doesn’t always do what you expect it to do. Or, if you’re the guy throwing it, it doesn’t always do what you want it to do.

Waldron was on the losing end of the Padres’ 4-1 defeat to the Red Sox in Sunday’s series finale. He allowed four runs (three earned) across 4 1/3 innings, as San Diego saw its five-game winning streak snapped.

“Not the results I wanted,” said Waldron. “But it was a heck of an experience still.”

Clearly, Waldron was moved by the chance to pitch on the mound where the late Tim Wakefield spent nearly two decades carrying the knuckleballing mantle.

“It’s Fenway, and you know that Wakefield has toed that rubber,” said Waldron, who grew emotional during his postgame interview. “You could feel it.”

It was Wakefield, after all, who inspired Waldron to begin throwing the pitch as a kid, because he and his brother enjoyed using it in video games.

In the Minors, as Waldron and the Padres began to incorporate the pitch into his regular arsenal, Waldron met with Wakefield multiple times via Zoom. They spoke teacher-to-pupil but also as two members of a very distinct baseball fraternity.

“Overall, there’s a connection there with our knuckleballer and their knuckleballer,” said pitching coach Ruben Niebla. “I think that made it even more special. Having a knuckleballer pitching here, pitching against that organization … it was pretty cool.”

Last October, Wakefield passed away after a battle with brain cancer. As such, Waldron’s arrival on the mound in Boston offered a poignant moment -- for Waldron himself and for so many others in attendance at Fenway Park.

“Whenever a knuckleballer comes to Fenway, you think about Wake,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, Wakefield’s big league teammate for parts of four seasons.

The knuckleball helped carry Waldron to a spot on the San Diego roster this spring. It has been his best pitch, as he has emerged as a stabilizing force in a rotation beset by injuries.

On Sunday, however, it wasn’t quite up to his usual standards. Waldron had gone nine consecutive starts without allowing more than two runs. In that span, he’d allowed just two total home runs. Both Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran took him deep on Sunday -- Duran with a two-run blast on a knuckleball that put Boston ahead by four in the fifth.

“They did a good job attacking that,” Waldron said. “They approached it really well. I’ve got to commend that. I’ll bounce back -- I’ve done it before. But it’s been a while since I’ve felt this upset.”

The emotion was understandable. Waldron grew up a Red Sox fan and had never been to Fenway Park. He imitated Wakefield as a kid. Then, he befriended Wakefield as a Minor Leaguer trying to break through. Tragically, in Waldron’s first chance to pitch at Fenway, Wakefield wasn’t there to see it.

Had he been, Wakefield surely would’ve been quick to impart this bit of knuckleballing wisdom: Their signature pitch can be a fickle one.

“Listen, sometimes the ball just goes where the barrel goes,” said Padres manager Mike Shildt. “Not to minimize anybody’s ability to get barrel on it. But it’s a tough pitch to barrel, as we’ve seen.”

Niebla has stressed that. More often than not, Waldron makes hitters look silly with his knuckleball. It flutters, darts and dives. Hitters typically don’t have any idea where it’s going.

Sometimes, however, it can move directly into a hitter’s sweet spot.

“You saw it in the Duran pitch,” Niebla said. “He swung, and it went in on him, into an area of his strength. But I thought [Waldron] threw the ball well overall.”

Waldron exited with one out in the bottom of the fifth, and the San Diego bullpen pitched scoreless ball the rest of the way. The Padres had their chances offensively, but they finished 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position -- after they’d gone 9-for-16 en route to scoring 20 runs in the first two games.

After an off-day Monday, the Padres open a three-game series in Texas against the defending World Series champion Rangers. They’ll do so in sole possession of the second Wild Card spot in the National League, winners in nine of their past 11 games.

“They put some swings on Waldy, were able to add on a little bit,” Shildt said. “[We] had some guys on, just couldn’t cash in. It was a good series.”