The San Diego Padres open up a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals beginning Thursday and both teams have won three of its last five games.
The San Diego Padres are coming off a much-needed series win over the San Francisco Giants after defeating them 5-1 in the rubber match Wednesday.
It was a quiet game until the fourth inning, as there were only nine hits in the contest, but Padres first baseman Gavin Sheets opened the scoring with his fifth home run of the season, a 395-foot solo shot to right field off Giants right-hander Adrian Houser.
That was the only earned run Houser allowed through six innings of work. He was sharp and gave up just three hits and one walk while striking out three but was pulled at just 74 pitches. Padres right-hander Matt Waldron earned his first win of the season after pitching five one-run innings on two hits with seven strikeouts in relief. The lone Giants run came from a 365-foot homer off the bat of first baseman Rafael Devers in the fifth inning.
Houser took the loss as the last batter he faced reached on an error in the seventh inning and righty Keaton Winn couldn’t escape the inning without allowing a pinch hit two-run triple off the bat of first baseman Ty France.
Shortstop Xander Bogaerts continued his hot stretch and belted a 424-foot two-run blast to left field to cap off the win in the eighth.
San Diego will look to continue stacking wins against the St. Louis Cardinals when the two teams open up a four-game home series Thursday. The series opener will feature a pitching matchup of St. Louis’ Matthew Liberatore and San Diego’s Michael King.
Liberatore has had a few rough outings recently but is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.50 WHIP through seven starts (36 innings). He has allowed at least four runs in three of his last five starts but he dealt and earned the win against the Los Angeles Dodgers his last time out.
The 26-year-old lefty looked sharp over 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
King has been the Padres’ ace this season and the club has needed him considering how depleted the starting rotation is at the moment.
He is 3-2 with a 2.95 ERA and 1.13 WHIP with 39 strikeouts after his last outing against the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox tagged King for four runs on seven hits and three walks in six innings.
At 22-14, the Padres are a game ahead of the Cardinals but both hold the first and second National League Wild Card spots.
First pitch is at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN.