Putrid offense dooms Padres, Cardinals sweep series
Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Busch Stadium- St. Louis, MO
The Padres turned to Yu Darvish to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Cardinals in St. Louis. Darvish entered Wednesday’s game with a 2.60 ERA in the seven starts following that nightmare game in San Francisco (nine earned runs).
Darvish certainly did his part with yet another good outing. He started with three scoreless innings before allowing one run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Juan Yepez.
The Padres’ bats showed life in the first when Jurickson Profar doubled and then scored on a single by Manny Machado. They were unable to capitalize further, stranding runners on second and third after Cardinals center fielder Harrison Bader robbed Ha-Seong Kim of a two-run single with a diving catch.
Rise & Shine!
Machado gets the day rolling 🔥#TimeToShine | @Padres pic.twitter.com/xwQ6TTH9AH
— Bally Sports San Diego (@BallySportsSD) June 1, 2022
The game remained 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth. Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. Darvish was able to work out of the inning without any further trouble.
Darvish entered the eighth inning with an economic pitch count. He got the first out before a single. He struck out Paul Goldschmidt, needing just one out to complete eight innings. Instead, Arenado singled home another run to extend St. Louis’ lead to 4-1. Bob Melvin removed Darvish, but a Juan Yepez double scored Arenado, charging Darvish with a fifth run.
Overall, Darvish completed 7 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Melvin complemented Darvish and wanted to see him finish the game. “I wanted to give him a chance to finish that game,” Melvin said. “We probably should have walked Arenado and gone after the next guy.”
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The Padres were able to show some heart in the top of the ninth. Luke Voit hit a solo homer, cutting the deficit to three. Following Voit’s homer, Kim singled, then Austin Nola and Trent Grisham worked a walk. This brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Robinson Cano. The veteran second baseman launched a liner into left-center field to the warning track, where it was caught to end the game.
The Padres have lost three in a row for the first time this season and suffered a sweep at the hands of the Cardinals. The road does not get any easier as the Friars travel to Milwaukee for a four-game set with the first place Brewers.
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.
Putrid is right.
Given all the resources supplied to Preller, the roster-building is exceedingly “putrid.” (yes, the starting pitching is great, so far).
I have the over/under at 20 games for Cano, and taking the under. yet another brilliant move by Preller. This team is very hard to watch, even when they win (e.g. 2 to 1).