By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals haven’t had quite the luck they hoped for since the All Star Break, losing 11 of their 16 games, and dropping below .500 after falling to the San Diego Padres 7-3 on Sunday afternoon, losing the series as well for their fourth series loss out of five series since the break.
The Cardinals fell behind in the fourth inning on a one out two run home run by Jake Cronenworth, scoring Ramón Laureano after his one out single. In the seventh inning, the Padres extended their lead scoring four runs, three coming on a bases clearing triple by Jackson Merrill, driving in Freddy Fermin, Fernando Tatis Jr, and Manny Machado, before Merrill scored on a sacrifice fly by Xander Bogaerts. Laureano homered in the eighth inning for the final San Diego run.
In the ninth inning, St. Louis finally found their way onto the scoreboard scoring all their runs. After loading the bases with singles by Iván Herrera and Alec Burleson and a walk to Willson Contreras, Nolan Gorman drove in the first run with an RBI single bringing home Herrera. Jordan Walker followed that with an RBI single of his own to drive in Burleson, before Contreras scored the final run later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Lars Nootbar.
Andre Pallante took the loss, falling to 6-8 on the season, pitching five innings and giving up two runs on five hits while striking out four and walking three. At the plate, Herrera was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Contreras was 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. Gorman and Walker were both 1-for-4 with an RBI.
St. Louis continues their trip along the west coast and travels to Los Angeles next. Sonny Gray (10-5, 4.38 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Tyler Glasnow (1-1, 3.38 ERA) for the Dodgers. First pitch is at 9:10pm with coverage being joined around 9 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
