Padres finished 2-for-11 RISP, dropped opener against Cardinals

ST. LOUIS – After splitting their first two series since returning from the all-star break, the San Diego Padres started a four game series against the St. Louis Cardinals with a 9-7 loss on Thursday at Busch Stadium.

Both teams are on the bubble for the last National League Wild Card spot and are both similarly dealing with lack of fire power offensively. However with the warm weather and the humidity in the area, the ball was carrying deeper than usual, ending the game with a total of five home runs and 25 hits.   

“I’m really please with the whole game,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “Took great at-bats. I mean, the top five guys were really, really good… We were able to get seven runs. We just weren’t able to hold them under.”  

Even with a stronger outing by the Padres top stars that featured 11 hits combined, it still wasn’t enough. This game was another example of a game that the Padres should have and desperately needed to have under their belt, as the group finished 2-for-11 with RISP and left eight on base.  

It also doesn’t help that starting pitcher Yu Darvish, who now has a 0-3 record with a 9.18 ERA and 11 strikeouts through four starts, coughed up seven earned runs during the first two innings. He finished the evening on 69 pitches through 3 ⅓ innings and allowed eight runs (most since 2022), eight hits, three strikeouts and two walks. 

“I should be better,” Darvish said. “They’ve given me four games to come back, and I’ve been doing this long enough (21 years). So there’s not much excuse that I can make. Bottom line, I should be better than that.” 

The top of the order for the Padres got going early offensively during the first inning when Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a single on Sonny Gray’s second pitch and then came around to score the first run following Luis Arraez’s RBI double to the gap in right-field. Jackson Merrill would pick up Manny Machado, who struck out on four pitches, hitting a four-seam fastball tight and inside the zone for an RBI single to right-field to give San Diego a 2-0 lead.

Darvish got himself in trouble early also by allowing a lead-off single to Brendan Donovan and a two-out RBI double to Willson Contreras (27) to cut their lead in half. It is the first time in his four starts where he has allowed a run in the opening inning.   

Darvish’s struggles continued after he surrendered six runs in the second inning, following a pair of three-run homers by Donovan (9) and Contreras (14). Both managed to jump on Darvish’s sweeper at or near the middle of the plate that tracked at 83-84 mph.   

The ball continued to fly deep during the following frame when Tatis Jr. sent out his 17th home run of the season, his first homer since July 10. 

Arraez would get on base, hitting consecutive doubles, which gave Machado the green light to smoke his 19th home run of the season for the Friars to trail 7-5. 

The Friars had another chance to tie the game during the four inning with a pair of runners on base but ended the inning with Arraez grounding into a force out and Machado flying out. 

The Cardinals tacked on another run during the following frame. Darvish was replaced by reliever Yuki Matsui and he recorded the final two outs. 

During the top of the fifth inning, Gavin Sheets hit a ground out RBI that brought in Merrill and advanced Xander Bogaerts to third base after they got into scoring position on three pitches. Two batters later, Bryce Johnson reached on a throwing error by Contreras that scored Bogaerts. 

Matsui loaded the bases during the bottom of the frame after he gave up a walk, a single and a walk. He managed to leave the game on a good note after he got Pedro Pagés called out on strikes on a four-seam fastball at the knees. Reliever Wandy Peralta entered the game to record the final out, featuring Arraez beating Victor Scott II to first base after his dive to the bag.  

Cardinals reliever Riley O’Brien would face the opening three of the Padres lineup and walked away with a strikeout on Tatis Jr, Arraez walked, and a single by Machado. However, the Padres left the inning scoreless following a strikeout and ground out by Merrill and Bogaert against left-hander Jojo Romero. 

After starting the bottom of the sixth inning with a ground out, Peralta gave up a solo shot against Iván Herrera that left the bat at 111.5 mph to center-field and extended the Cardinals lead to 9-7.

The momentum shifted into the next two innings when Romero struck out the side (Sheets, Cronenworth, Johnson) on 13 pitches and reliever Phil Maton sat down Jose Iglesias, who pinched hit for Martín Maldonado, Tatis Jr and Arraez, posting a total of eight consecutive outs.  

Padres left-hander Kyle Hart made his second appearance since his return to the rotation during the eighth inning. He would let things spiral for a bit with the bases loaded but would get saved by the infield with a 3-6-3 double play to avoid any additional runs.

The Padres squandered only one hit during their final chance in the ninth inning. Merrill and Sheets were handed their second strikeouts of the game and Bogaerts flew out on two pitches.  

The Padres have now gone 10-9 so far for the month of July and currently have a 55-48 record. 

With the loss, the Padres are five games back behind the Dodgers (60-43) in NL West and only are ahead by a game over the Giants (54-49). The Cardinals (53-51), who are three places out of the Wild Card, are now behind by 2.5 games.  

First pitch of Friday’s second game of the series will be at 4:15 p.m. that will feature starters Nick Pivetta (10-2, 2.81 ERA) and Miles Mikolas (5-7, 5.20 ERA) on the bump. Pivetta earned a win in his last start against the Nationals where he pitched six innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and five strikeouts.