SAN DIEGO — Trying to get a big hit at the right time has been a problem all season for the Cardinals but for one inning Saturday night, that wasn’t the case.
The Cardinals used a pair of sacrifice flies and two hits to score three times in the 11th inning and earn the victory over the Padres in San Diego.
Jordan Walker singled, Richie Palacios hit a sacrifice fly, Luken Baker singled in the second run and Andrew Knizner hit another sacrifice fly to produce the three runs.
The Cardinals had carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth but the Padres tied the game after Ryan Helsley walked the bases loaded with no outs. He allowed the tying run to score, but then struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto to strand the winning run on third and send the game to extra innings.
Here is how Saturday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals had only two hits through the first six innings, both from Tommy Edman before getting a two-out, two-run single from Masyn Winn in the seventh. Baker drew a one-out walk followed by a double from Knizner to set up the hit by Winn … Irving Lopez made his major-league debut, starting at third base, and was hitless in three at-bats … The Cardinals had scored a combined eight runs in three previous five games.
On the mound: Six pitchers held the Padres to only one run into the ninth. That came on a two-out single by Manny Machado in the first inning after Jake Woodford issued a leadoff walk … Woodford pitched into the fourth before Andre Pallante, Jacob Barnes, John King, Drew VerHagen and Helsley got the game to the ninth … Casey Lawrence worked the 10th and 11th innings, with the Cardinals getting a double play in the 10th following an intentional walk and then setting down the Padres in order in the 11th to finish off the victory which kept San Diego winless (0-12) in extra-inning games this season.
Key stat: Lopez, called up from Memphis on Friday, played his first game in the majors after collecting 1,967 plate appearances in his minor-league career starting in 2017, when he was drafted by the Cardinals in the 19th round of that year’s draft.
Worth noting: Lopez became the 52nd player to appear in a game for the Cardinals this season, the highest total in franchise history … Paul Goldschmidt played in his 150th game of the year, surpassing that total for the eighth consecutive season.
Looking ahead: Drew Rom will get the start in the series finale on Sunday while former Cardinal Michael Wacha is scheduled to start for the Padres.