Takeaways from St. Louis Cardinals sweep of the Padres
The St. Louis Cardinals got a sweep over the San Diego Padres to close out a successful homestand.
The St. Louis Cardinals ended their homestand with a tremendous series sweep over the San Diego Padres. The Cardinals won Monday, 6-3, on Tuesday 3-2, and on Wednesday 5-2.
The sweep comes as the Cardinals head to Chicago for a five-game set starting Thursday evening against their NL Central rival Chicago Cubs, which includes a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.
Let’s take a look at what happened in this series.
Monday: Cardinals 6, Padres 3
Nolan Gorman hit his second home run of the season on a fly to right field, scoring Tommy Edman. The blast traveled 403-feet at 105.7 mph.
Paul Goldschmidt knocked his 11th home run of the season on a fly to left-center field, scoring Nolan Gorman. The blast traveled 414-feet at 104 mph.
In the fifth inning, Edman singled to drive in Brendan Donovan. In the seventh, Yadier Molina hit a double to center field, scoring Lars Nootbaar.
Andre Pallante earned his first major league victory after going 3.1 innings in relief of Packy Naughton.
Naughton pitched 2.1 innings, giving up two hits and one run. He struck out four betters while inducing six swings and misses. Pallante gave up five hits and one earned run. He struck out five while inducing nine swings and misses.
Giovanny Gallegos, Genesis Cabrera, and Ryan Helsley provided relief in the bullpen game. Helsley topped out with a velocity of 101 mph, striking out one batter. Gallegos struck out two batters and Cabrera struck out one.
Tuesday: Cardinals 3, Padres 2
Tied at two, the Cardinals went into the tenth inning ready for some dramatics.
Jurickson Profar singled to left fielder Lars Nootbaar in the top of the tenth. As Jose Azocar dashed home only to be nailed out at the plate on an absolute rocket of a throw from Nootbaar.
With all that momentum, Tommy Edman was the ghost runner on second. Paul Goldschmidt was walked to start the inning. Nolan Arenado popped out in foul territory while Edman stole third base. It was his 12th stolen base.
With Edman ready at third, Albert Pujols knocked a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Edman, in dramatic fashion. This was Pujols’ 15th career walk-off as a Cardinal.
Earlier in the game, Paul Goldschmidt extended his on-base streak with a walk in the first inning. He brings this streak to 36 games. Goldschmidt doubled in the third inning to center, scoring Brendan Donovan. This brought his hitting streak to 22 games. Also of note for Goldschmidt, he hit 23 extra-base hits in the month of May. This passes Pujols and Stan Musial who had held the record with 22. Not bad, Goldy!
Adam Wainwright, unfortunately, got a no-decision after a vintage outing. Wainwright pitched 7 innings, giving up only two hits and a walk. He struck out 10 batters while inducing nine swings and misses.
This was Wainwright and Yadier Molina’s 314th career start as a battery.
Giovanny Gallegos earned his third blown save of the season, pitching one inning, giving up two hits, and two earned runs – including a home run to Trent Grisham. He did strike out two. Ryan Helsley pitched an inning, walking one, and inducing two swings and misses. He hit a max velocity of 101.4 mph.
Wednesday: Cardinals 5, Padres 2
Nolan Arenado appears to have shrugged off a May slump with a good start to June in Wednesday’s win. He was 3-for-4 with three RBI.
Arenado hit his tenth home run of the season in the sixth inning on a fly to left field off of Yu Darvish. He scored Paul Goldschmidt on the blast, which traveled 380-feet at 103.4 mph. Goldschmidt extended his hitting streak to 23 games.
Arenado had a single in the eighth inning to score Brendan Donovan.
After a slump in May, it was nice to see Nolan break out.
Juan Yepez also had a good afternoon, going 1-for-3 with two RBI. In the fourth inning, Yepez hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Goldschmidt. Yepez had a double to left field in the eighth inning to score Arenado.
Dakota Hudson earned his fourth win of the season, now 4-2, after seven innings pitched. He gave up four hits, a walk, and one earned run. He did strike out three while inducing six swings and misses. Drew VerHagen had a scoreless eighth inning. Kodi Whitley attempted to make things interesting in the ninth, giving up a home run to St. Louis-native and former Cardinal Luke Voit, whose blast traveled 420-feet at 106 mph.
Nick Wittgren earned his first save of the season after getting the final out of the ninth.