Padres Unable To Get Series Sweep And Fall To The Cardinals

Jul 31, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher

(40) pitches during the fifth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Following a night when the Padres’ bats exploded for twelve runs, including an eight run seventh inning, the Padres’ fell back to earth and could only manage three hits in the 6-2 loss Thursday afternoon to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Padres’ rookie Odrisamer Despaigne (2-3, 2.68 ERA) struggled in his second consecutive start after nearly no-hitting the New York Mets nearly two weeks ago. Despaigne failed to make it the sixth inning allowing six earned runs on nine hits and striking three. Over his last two starts, Despaigne has posted a 7.71 ERA and has failed to show the same type of pitcher he was over his first five starts.

Manager Bud Black added, ““With Odrisamer, we saw the same sort of package of stuff, but he just couldn’t seem to wiggle out of some difficulties. They just sort of bunched some hits together against him.”

The Cardinals got things going early when Oscar Taveras blasted a two-run homer in the second inning, but the Padres managed to tie the game back up when second baseman Jedd Gyorko and outfielder Will Venable each hit a pair of solo home runs to get the Friars back into the game.

However, it is was the most the Padres offense was able to muster against Cardinals right-hander Shelby Miller (8-8, 4.14 ERA), who shut them down. Miller allowed two runs on three hits and striking out five over six innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen to finish the game.

The Cardinals retook the lead in the top half of third inning with an two-RBI single by Matt Holliday and RBI singles by Peter Bourjos and Miller made it a 6-2 game.

Since returning from the disabled list, Gyorko seems to have found his hitting stroke again as he tore up Cardinals pitching over the three games. In the series, two of his six hits were home runs and he drove in six RBI.

The Padres look to bounce back quickly when they start a three game series with the NL East Atlanta Braves. These two teams met last weekend with the Braves taking three of four games from San Diego. The Padres are expected to start Eric Stults (3-13, 5.22 ERA) while Atlanta looks to start Mike Minor (4-6, 5.23 ERA).