Nola drives in six as offense explodes, Padres drum Cardinals 13-3
Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
San Diego, California- Petco Park
The Padres were looking to secure a series win after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the series opener on Friday night.
Chris Paddack toed the rubber, hoping to build off his solid, albeit brief outing last Sunday.
On the other side, the Padres had to deal with Adam Wainwright, who has owned the Friars for over a decade. All this while was also missing half of the regular lineup due to COVID-19.
It didn’t seem to bother them much.
Tommy Pham got the scoring started by launching a two-run homer, the first of his 2021 season. He has scuffled much of his brief Padres career, but he was able to burn his former club on Saturday night, giving the Friars an early 2-0 lead.
Tommy Pham with a 2-run blast against his former club gets the Padres on the board early!! 💥 pic.twitter.com/3YqZuYi71C
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 16, 2021
It was a good night for previously slumping Padres hitters as Ha-Seong Kim also launched a slump-busting home run, extending San Diego’s lead to three.
Austin Nola then set the tone for the rest of the night with a three-run shot just over the right-field wall extending the lead to 6-0. The Friars ended Wainwright’s night early with six earned runs in four innings on eight hits and three walks with three homers.
The hitting did not stop there. The Friars had it rolling all night from up and down the lineup, despite being short-handed.
Paddack ended up throwing four solid innings, allowing just a solo home run to catcher Yadier Molina. Otherwise, he was effective, striking out two and walking one.
You come at the Kim, you best not miss.#HungryForMore pic.twitter.com/maGWyljX3i
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 16, 2021
Miguel Diaz took over in the fifth and surrendered a solo home run to Nolan Arenado in the sixth. Diaz finished two innings with three strikeouts.
The floodgates opened in the sixth. Manny Machado lined an RBI single, bringing the score to 7-2. Newcomer Patrick Kivlehan lined a run-scoring single before Austin Nola scorched an RBI double down the left-field line. Brian O’Grady rounded out the scoring with a fielder’s choice that scored Kivlehan from third.
Austin Nola for 3⃣!!!#HungryForMore
(via @padres)pic.twitter.com/1IsVe42pjE— Bally Sports San Diego (@BallySportsSD) May 16, 2021
After the dust settled, the Padres found themselves with a comfortable 10-2 lead over the first-place Cardinals.
The home team got three more runs in the seventh with a sac fly from Machado and two more RBI for Nola off of second baseman Matt Carpenter, who came in to pitch in mop-up duty.
Nabil Crismatt took the mound for the last two innings to close out the game and seal the 13-3 victory.
The victory sealed a series win for the Padres, which is notable since they are playing without much of the thump of their original lineup.
In total, the Padres offense amounted to a whopping 17 hits, a season-high, including five extra-base hits. It was their highest hit total at Petco Park since 2016. Trent Grisham, Jake Cronenworth, and Austin Nola all enjoyed three-hit nights as Nola racked up six RBI.
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”It was everybody tonight. Our guys were ready to hit tonight. They stayed disciplined. The overall team’s competitive at-bats were great to see,” Tingler said after the game.
Thanks to the Pirates defeating the Giants, San Diego now sits just a half of a game back of first place in the NL West.
The Padres now have their eyes set on sweeping this series tomorrow on the national stage on Sunday Night Baseball.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.