• Tommy Pham strikes out three times in spring debut.

Tommy Pham had been penciled in as the designated hitter when rain washed away the Cactus League opener a week ago.

Ensuing soreness in his side sidelined his swing three days earlier in the week.

What Pham showed on Saturday in his long-awaited Padres debut — three strikeouts, including two swinging against Reds ace Luis Castillo — could have easily been chalked up to knocking off the rust.

The 31-year-old Pham doesn’t entertain excuses.

“If you want to see pitches, track pitches, maybe you can do that off a machine,” Pham said Saturday afternoon at Goodyear Ballpark. “When I step onto the field, I expect to produce. That’s just my mindset, and today was terrible.”

Nevertheless, Pham is playing catch-up — in more ways than one.

Acquired in December from the Tampa Bay Rays, Pham spent the offseason rehabbing a torn UCL in his throwing elbow.

He started throwing when he joined the Padres in Peoria earlier this month and has slowly progressed to throwing from 120 feet. He’s likely at least a week away from playing games in left field, although the Padres have yet to reveal a date for that hurdle.

The important thing, Pham said, is how it’s felt through his progression.

“My arm feels fine,” Pham said. “No tingling sensation. Nothing.”

He hopes to have something to show for his at-bats, sooner rather than later.

He hit .333/.417/.490 last spring with the Rays, but didn’t necessarily feel like the ball coming off his bat matched his batting line. His ensuing .450 slugging percentage was Pham’s lowest since emerging as a big-league regular.

A strong spring, he said, is an important springboard into the season.

“They matter to me, absolutely,” Pham said of his spring results. “I’m about to go work on my swing now.”

He added: “Last year I didn’t feel like I drove the ball well in spring training and it carried over into the season. Everything I work on now I take seriously.”

Lamet’s debut

Dinelson Lamet threw 153 innings in the minors in 2016, topped that while graduating to San Diego the following year and, between his rehab starts and return to the majors, threw another 98 last year in his comeback from Tommy John surgery.

As far as the 27-year-old Lamet is concerned, he is without restrictions as he enters 2020.

“I think first and foremost,” Lamet said through interpreter David Longley following two scoreless innings in his Cactus League debut, “I’m focused on my health. I want to be healthy.

At the same time, that’s being healthy enough to have a season where I’m throwing 200 innings. That’s something that I have in mind, and if we make it to the playoffs I want to be available.”

To be clear, Lamet is not saying 200 innings is the next logical step in his progression. The Padres certainly aren’t saying that either, or even defining at all what his workload might look like as he moves through his first full season following his elbow reconstruction.

“I think it helps that he’s been over 100 before, but I don’t know,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. “We’ll start to tackle that when we get up and running. We don’t really expect to have many handcuffs on or anything like that, but we have to be responsible with it as well.”

Lamet certainly put forth a good first step Saturday.

The tall right-hander struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit in a 7-3 win over the Reds. He was up to 98 mph and finished his outing with an 89 mph slider that Matt Davidson flailed at.

“Really good,” Tingler said of Lamet’s first start. “For the first outing, really good. The fastball played. The velo was really good. Went down in the zone, went up in the zone with it. The slider, curveball very good. I was very happy with his two innings today.”

Temporary extension

Cord-cutting Padres fans could be getting a break.

Late Friday night, one of Youtube’s Twitter accounts said its live TV streaming service had reached a temporary extension with Sinclair that will allow subscribers access to Fox Regional Sports Networks while the two sides work toward an agreement.

The Tweet read: “While we don’t have plans to lower the cost at this time, we’re glad to share that we’ve agreed to a temporary extension! FOX RSNS + YES Network are still available while we work to reach an agreement. We hope to have more information to share soon.”

Youtube had previously said it was dropping Fox Regional Sports Networks — including Fox Sports San Diego, the Padres’ TV home — effective Saturday.

A spokesperson for Sinclair could not be reached.

Notable

Padres batters worked seven walks in Saturday’s win.

They entered the game with a .376 on-base percentage, tops in the Cactus League and second across both spring training circuits behind the Phillies (.389).

• INF Hudson Potts is dealing with a tight hamstring that could sideline him a couple of days.

Tommy Pham