ST. LOUIS — Tuesday’s Game Report: Padres 7, Cardinals 5
It has been one of the biggest storylines of this season for the Cardinals; their inability to get hits with runners in scoring position.
It is one of the biggest reasons they are hovering around the .500 mark and it was evident again on Tuesday night against the Padres at Busch Stadium.
They loaded the bases in both the second and third innings and couldn’t score. They finished the game with one hit in 10 opportunities with a runner on second or third, leaving 10 runners on base as they lost to San Diego for the second consecutive night.
The Padres, heading for the playoffs, went 4-of-7 with a runner in scoring position – and three of those hits drove in a run. They rallied for two runs in the seventh to regain the lead, then added an insurance run in the ninth.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Paul Goldschmidt had a three-hit night, including his 20th home run of the season which temporarily put the Cardinals up 5-4 in the fifth. He also had a pair of singles and drew a walk … Their only hit with a runner in scoring position was an RBI single from Lars Nootbaar in front of the Goldschmidt home run … A double by Masyn Winn, his second hit of the night, put the tying run on second with one out in the eighth but Tommy Pham and Luken Baker struck out to end the inning.
On the mound: One bad inning cost Miles Mikolas, who gave up four runs in the second inning, including Manny Machado’s second homer in the series. Five of the six hits the Padres got off Mikolas in his 5 2/3 innings came in that inning … Mikolas has won only one of his last 10 starts dating back to June 22 … A one-out walk to the ninth-place hitter got John King in trouble in the seventh, when the Padres then had a single, pulled off a double steal, hit a sacrifice fly and added another single to take the lead … The final run in the ninth scored on a wild pitch from Riley O’Brien, recalled from Memphis before the game.
Key stat: For the season the Cardinals now have a .224 team average with runners in scoring position, the lowest in the NL and ahead of only Tampa Bay and the White Sox in the majors.
Worth noting: The announced tickets-sold crowd of 27,224 was the smallest for a Cardinals home game since a Thursday day game on April 28, 2005 at Busch Stadium 2 drew 26,026 … To make room for O’Brien, reliever Shawn Armstrong was designated for assignment. Armstrong, the return for trading Dylan Carlson to the Rays, pitched in 11 games during his three-week stay with the Cardinals … Michael Siani began a rehab assignment with Springfield on Tuesday night and was 0-of-3 in the game at Wichita … Steven Matz started for Memphis and worked three innings, throwing 64 pitches. He allowed four runs on five hits, but two of the runs were unearned … One of the Cardinals’ top prospects, catcher Leo Bernal, was promoted Tuesday from Class A Peoria to Springfield.
Looking ahead: Andre Pallante, who has been the Cardinals’ best starter this month, will get the start on Wednesday night in the third game of the series.
