For the second straight night the Padres had to contend with a quality start, as Andre Pallante tossed seven strong innings, sending the Padres to a 3-2 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.
Ty France and Jackson Merrill had RBI singles, but the Padres (37-35) spent nearly the entire night chasing and allowed a baserunner in all eight innings. Pallante retired the first 14 batters for the Cardinals (40-31), who worked a 28-pitch second inning where they scored two and never trailed after.
"It was a tough night, we had a couple ABS challenges where they nicked the edge and those are pitches that are tough to hit... We did have a couple hits back-to-back that did score a run, but we were unable to get that third hit, which is always tough in an inning, and there were a lot of empty innings as well where we just didn't have anything going on," manager Craig Stammen said.
"(Pallante) threw well, we've just got to be a little bit better against him and fight him a little harder earlier in the game and get that pitch count up so we can make even more progress later in the game."
Michael King had a battling start, having to contend with three lead-off runners reaching against him and the second inning which saw the Cardinals continue to execute with two outs. After a lead-off walk. Blaze Jordan lined a sweeper that spun in on top of the zone to the wall in left-center for his first double of the season to score Lars Nootbaar, then Nathan Church singled home the second run of the inning.
Samad Taylor broke Pallante’s spell in the fifth with a two-out comebacker that deflected off the Cardinals starter’s glove to Masyn Winn, with Taylor getting down the line just in time to beat the throw. St. Louis challenged and the call was confirmed. Taylor then stole second on the third pitch to France, and came around to score when France dumped a single on a line to shallow center.
But the first two Redbirds reached to start the fifth, as Ivan Herrera got plunked by a sinker that ran inside and Alec Burleson followed up by getting low to line a single to center. Jordan Walker hit a hot shot fly to the left-center field wall that Jackson Merrill was able to race to and leap to make the catch, which ended the evening for King.
"(King) wasn't sharp from the beginning, tons of 3-2 counts, that isn't him, it drove his pitch count up. He kind of fought through it for four innings and then the fifth inning they got to him the third time through the lineup which has kinda been par for the course for our starting rotation," Stammen said. "Michael's got to lead the way, he's got to be a little bit better, I know he wants to be better and he will be better going forward."
Yuki Matsui came on and got Nootbaar to hit a sacrifice fly that restored the Cardinals two-run lead. After a walk, Matsui ended the inning with a strikeout, closing the book on King, who finished with 93 pitches in 4 1/3 innings and allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks and had a strikeout.
It was just the second of King’s 15 starts this season where he did not at least get through the fifth inning, as he took his sixth loss and fourth in his last five starts. The Padres have scored three runs or fewer in seven of his last nine outings.
Fernando Tatis Jr. extended his streak of reaching safely to 11 games, as he started a two-out rally in the sixth inning by lacing a single through the right side. Merrill cashed him in by hitting the Padres first extra base hit of the series, cracking a double off the base of the wall in right-center to pull the Brown and Gold back within a run.
But that would be all as the bottom of the order went down in succession in the eighth against reliever Ryne Stanek and Riley O’Brien notched his 18th save despite walking Manny Machado.
Pallante notched his team-high eighth win, allowing four hits and two runs in seven innings with six strikeouts and no walks in his longest outing of the season.
"I see the pitchers being the aggressor and us being somewhat passive, and then when we are aggressive we're putting the ball in play first pitch and getting out, so it's that fine line of baseball, like, can we wait this guy out but also can we get that we're looking for to hit.We've just got to be a little bit better at knowing what pitch we can hit and firing on it, doing damage on it and not just putting it in play, but doing something with it," Stammen said.
Matsui and Ron Marinaccio — able to play while he appeals his three-game suspension for hitting Gunnar Henderson with a pitch — each went 1 1/3 innings, allowing a hit with a strikeout and a walk. Wandy Peralta allowed a hit as he pitched through the eighth.
The Padres have yet to name a starter for the series finale, though it is expected to be an opener with Griffin Canning getting the bulk role, while St. Louis will turn to righty Kyle Leahy (5-3, 4.64 ERA). After spending his first two full seasons in the Majors coming out of the bullpen for the Redbirds, Leahy has just one quality start of his 13 thus far, but has not taken a loss since April 22 and has allowed three or fewer earned runs in six of his eight subsequent starts.
First pitch is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. PT at Busch Stadium.
This story was updated at 8:02 p.m.