The Cardinals Drop Series Finale as San Diego Padres Avoid Sweep

The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Drop Series Finale as Padres Avoid Sweep
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals won the series, but they did not finish it the way they wanted.

After taking the first two games from San Diego behind strong startingdnesday afternoon’s series finale, 6-1, at Busch Stadium. The Padres avoided the sweep, and the Cardinals were left with one of those games that was close enough for most of the afternoon before getting away late.

This was not a total collapse from the start. Kyle Leahy gave St. Louis a chance.

The right-hander worked six innings, allowed three runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out seven. That is a quality start, and on most days, it is enough to keep a team in the game. Leahy was not perfect, and San Diego made him work early, but he competed, threw strikes, and gave the Cardinals length.

The problem was the offense never gave him much room.

San Diego struck first in the opening inning. Samad Taylor walked, Jackson Merrill reached on an infield single, and Manny Machado lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Taylor. Just like that, the Padres had a 1-0 lead before the Cardinals came to the plate.

St. Louis had a chance to answer in the bottom half. Ivan Herrera singled and stole second, but the Cardinals could not cash in. Alec Burleson struck out, and Jordan Walker reached on a fielder’s choice that cut down Herrera at third.

That set an early tone.

The Padres added another run in the fourth when Machado doubled and Xander Bogaerts singled him home to make it 2-0. In the fifth, Will Wagner singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s double to deep center field, stretching the lead to 3-0.

Leahy limited the damage and kept the Cardinals close, but St. Louis continued to struggle finding the big swing.

The Cardinals finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Blaze Jordan walked, Nathan Church singled to left, and JJ Wetherholt moved both runners with a groundout. Herrera followed with a fielder’s choice that cut down Jordan at the plate, but Burleson came through with a two-out single to right, scoring Church and cutting the deficit to 3-1.

For Burleson, it extended his hitting streak to 17 games and continued one of the most consistent offensive stretches on the roster.

That was the good news.

The bad news was that it was also the Cardinals’ only run of the day.

St. Louis finished with six hits and went quietly too often in the innings that mattered. The Cardinals had traffic, but not enough damage. They left 14 runners on base, and Jordan Walker grounded into two key fielder’s choice situations with runners aboard. Walker has carried plenty of the offensive load this season, but Wednesday was one of those days where the game found him in big spots and the results did not follow.

That happens.

But in a game where the margin was still workable, those missed opportunities added up quickly.

The bullpen kept the game within reach for a while. Matt Svanson gave the Cardinals 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Justin Bruihl came on in the eighth. Chris Roycroft escaped a bases-loaded threat in that inning, keeping the deficit at 3-1 and giving St. Louis at least a chance to make it interesting late.

But the ninth inning ended that hope.

Sung-Mun Song singled, and Fernando Tatis Jr. singled to deep right to drive him home, though Tatis was thrown out trying to advance. After Samad Taylor reached, Jackson Merrill delivered the swing that put the game away — a two-run home run to right field, his eighth of the season. That made it 6-1, and the afternoon was effectively over.

Roycroft’s final line was a rough one: 1 1/3 innings, four hits, three runs, two walks and one strikeout. After Leahy gave the Cardinals six competitive innings, the late insurance runs turned a manageable deficit into a comfortable Padres win.

San Diego’s offense did what the Cardinals’ did not. The Padres kept applying pressure.

Tatis finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Merrill went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and a run scored. Bogaerts added two hits and drove in a run. Machado doubled, scored and drove in a run with the sacrifice fly.

The Padres finished with 14 hits.

The Cardinals finished with six.

That is usually enough to explain the ballgame.

For St. Louis, Wetherholt, Herrera, Burleson, Nootbaar, Winn and Church each had one hit. Burleson drove in the only run. Herrera stole a base. Walker recorded an outfield assist. Defensively, the Cardinals turned two double plays, but Masyn Winn was charged with his sixth error of the season.

The loss dropped the Cardinals to 40-32, while San Diego improved to 38-35.

There is no need to make this more dramatic than it is. The Cardinals still won the series. They beat the Padres behind Dustin May’s complete-game shutout on Monday and Andre Pallante’s seven strong innings on Tuesday. Winning two of three against a quality club is still good baseball.

But Wednesday was a reminder that this team still has some rough edges.

The starting pitching was good enough. The offense was not. The bullpen did not hold the line late. And against a Padres club desperate to avoid being swept, the Cardinals could not find the finishing punch.

That is the balance of this one.

The series was a win.

The finale was not.

The Cardinals now turn the page and move on, carrying the series victory with them, but also carrying the reminder that clean baseball has to be played all the way through the final out.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports &  MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Kyle Leahy, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB