The start of the game could not have been a whole lot worse for the Padres. A walk, a throwing error, a fielding error, two singles and a triple put San Diego in an early hole and against a team like the Cardinals it’s borderline impossible to climb back out of something like that.
Padres rookie Colin Rea had his first bad outing and Cardinals ace Michael Wacha (one of their many aces) was good if not dominant in a 10-3 St. Louis win. The Cards avoided getting swept for the first time all season and snapped the Padres 5-game winning streak, in the process denying the Friars a chance to get back to the .500 mark for the first time since Bud Black was still the manager (that would be June).
In the first inning Rea walked Tommy Pham then made a pad pickoff attempt, throwing the ball up the line and letting Pham advance to third base. The rookie got Jhonny Peralta to hit a liner right at Yangervis Solarte but the 3rd baseman had the ball kick off his glove for another error that let Pham score and give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead they quickly expanded.
Jason Heyward singled then Yadier Molina singled to score Peralta. They both scored on a triple by Stephen Piscotti, running the lead to 4-0 St. Louis before the Padres ever got an at-bat. Rea was pulled after allowing five runs in 4.0 innings, takinng his first Major League loss. Piscotti added a long solo home run in the 7th and another 2-run shot in the 9th but by that point the game was already well in-hand.
Wacha threw 6.0 innings, allowed just five hits and one run while striking out three. He got his 15th win to tie Madison Bumgarner and Jake Arrieta for the National League lead. He got himself out of a few jams and benefitted from sheer good luck. In the 6th inning, for example, Justin Upton ripped a line drive double to left but then Wacha threw his glove up to catch what looked like a Yonder Alonso single … Melvin Upton Jr. hit a rocket that was tracked down by Piscotti in left … and Austin Hedges smoked a line drive right at Pham in center. A few feet difference on any of those drives and the Padres could have made a comeback.
Padres right fielder Matt Kemp was able to add a little bit of excitement with a 2-run single in the 9th inning to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest active streak in the National League. The Padres fall to 61-63 on the season but remain 6.5 games behind the first-place Dodgers in the National League West. They have Monday off to fly to Washington and start a 3-game set against the Nationals. James Shields gets the start against San Diego native Stephen Strasburg.
