The San Diego Padres staved off a sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 6-1 win at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Wednesday. The Padres limped into the final game of the series having scored two runs and accumulated just five hits combined in the first two games. The San Diego offense woke up in Game 3 scoring six runs on 14 hits, which included a 3-for-5 performance from Jackson Merrill. The left-hand hitting centerfielder put the final runs on the board in the top of the ninth inning
when he hit a long home run into the right field stands. The only question was if the ball would stay fair and Merrill hit it hard enough to keep it just inside the foul pole in right field for a two-run home run that gave the Padres some breathing room heading into the bottom of the ninth inning.
Merrill was not the only San Diego player to have a successful day at the plate. Fernando Tatis Jr. had a 3-for-5 day as well, which included multiple balls struck at 110-plus mph. One of those was a line drive to center field in the top of the fifth inning that was hit so hard St. Louis center fielder Nathan Chirch could only stop and make a leaping effort as the ball screamed over the top of this glove and reached the center field wall for an RBI-double. Tatis tried for another RBI-double in the top of the ninth, hitting a line drive that hit the base of the right field wall. The hit allowed Sung-Mun Song to score, but it also gave Jordan Walker an opportunity to retrieve the ball and make a strong throw to second base, which arrived in time to get Tatis before he could slide in safely.
San Diego went with Bradgley Rodriguez as an opener for Griffin Canning and the strategy worked well. He pitched a scoreless first inning and then Canning took the ball in the second, completing 4.1 innings, allowing one run on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Kyle Hart, Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon combined to work the final 3.2 innings and did not allow a run and allowed just one hit and recorded one strikeout over that span.
The Padres have an off day today before starting a three-game series against the Texas Rangers in Arlington on Friday.
Padres News:
- With so many player joining the MLB roster, the San Diego farm system has seen a lot of movement and change and that has expected the performance on the field of some of those teams. Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball recaps the week that was at the minor league levels for the Padres.
- The movement at the lower levels of the San Diego system continued on Wednesday with reliever Ty Adcock being outrighted and pitcher Marco Gonzales being released.
Baseball News:
- The Chicago White Sox have looked like the hottest team in the American League, but the New York Yankees showed them they are not going to be going anywhere anytime soon as the Yankees handed the White Sox a 10-5 loss.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers completed a sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays with a 5-4 win.
- The Seattle Mariners lost to the Baltimore Orioles and lost Julio Radriguez who exited the game early with an injury.
- The Colorado Rockies lost to the Chicago Cubs, 8-6 but it was Colorado rookie Cole Carrigg who was making headlines.
- The Milwaukee Brewers got a convincing 9-4 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
- Corbin Carroll hit a grand slam to help the Arizona Diamondbacks knock off the Los Angeles Angels, 8-1.
- Former Padre Ryan O’Hearn had a six-RBI day at the plate to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a win.
- The San Francisco Giants completed a sweep of the Atlanta Braves.
