4 takeaways as Cardinals avoid sweep by Padres

After getting shut out in three consecutive games, the St. Louis Cardinals finally broke the cycle and won with help from the team’s youngsters. 

The Cardinals had a terrible string of bad luck as they lost to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday 5-0 and Wednesday 1-0. But with some help from the club youngsters, they pulled out an impressive 5-4 victory over the Padres Thursday.

The Cardinals head north to Los Angles to play a crucial three-game set against the Dodgers.

The Cardinals are 88-63 atop the NL Central with a 7.5-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers. Their magic number to officially clinch a playoff spot is 5.

Let’s discuss some of the issues from the series with the Padres.

Cardinals’ lack of hitting and scoring is concerning

On Tuesday, the Cardinals were 0-for-4 as a team with runners in scoring position. They struck out five times and stranded seven on the basepath. Wednesday’s game was worse as Padres starter Blake Snell took a no-hitter through the seventh inning. Albert Pujols knocked a single to right field in the seventh, and Juan Yepez followed that up with a single to right field, but that was all the offense the team could muster.

Snell threw 13 strikeouts in the game.

Even with their win Thursday, the Cardinals were still 1-for-4 as a team with runners in scoring position and stranded six on the basepath.

This stretch of games has been frustrating to watch. Here’s hoping the team continues to battle to get their hitting back on track.