Padres skipper non-committal about S. Korean reliever’s spot on Opening Day roster

Go Woo-suk, the South Korean reliever of the San Diego Padres, came into Monday’s exhibition game in Seoul against his former team LG Twins on the roster bubble. He was put on the team’s 31-man traveling squad for the Seoul Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but given his earlier spring training performance, it wasn’t a certainty that he would survive the cut for the 26-man Opening Day roster by Wednesday.

And Go’s performance Monday made the picture even murkier.

Go gave up a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Twins at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, before nailing down the save in the Padres’ 5-4 victory.

Slugger Lee Jae-won hammered a 94.9 miles-per-hour fastball from Go and deposited into left-center field, drawing a frustrated reaction from Go, who’d pitched for the Twins from 2017 to 2023.

San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt said playing in front of home fans in a Padres uniform for the first time might have been “a double-edged sword” for the South Korean pitcher.

“You want to do really well and it’s ultimately a question for him,” Shildt said, when asked if he felt Go was trying to do too much. “But the good news is he came back and was able to get a couple outs right after that and nail it down and get the save.”

Shildt has to trim his traveling squad by 11 a.m. Wednesday, the day of the first game against the Dodgers.

Asked about his level of concern for Go with the regular season now just two days away, Shildt said, “We’ll evaluate the roster before the Dodgers series and we’ll take it from there.”