The San Diego Padres needed a win badly, and they survived the pesky Cardinals thanks to a dramatic Miller save.
The San Diego Padres spotted the St. Louis Cardinals an early run, then came from behind to win a 4-2 game that featured a big hit from Fernando Tatis Jr., a home run by Manny Machado and a dramatic four-out save from Mason Miller.
It was a pitchers duel early between Randy Vaquez of the Padres and Dustin May of the Cardinals. The Padres actually got no-hit through four innings, and the Cardinals didn’t break through against Vasquez until the fourth. The run came on a pair of singles by Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman, with Nathan Church doubling home the run to make it 1-0.
The Padres tied the game in the fifth with a solo homer by Ty France, which was also the first hit of the game off May. The rally continued when Sung-Mun Song walked, Freddy Fermin singled and a passed ball moved them to third. Fernando Tatis Jr. then dumped a flare single to right to give the Padres 3-1 lead.
Vasquez went five innings and would up giving up one run while striking out six, and Jeremiah Estrada and Jason Adam followed with a pair of scoreless frames. But Adrian Morejon struggled in the eighth as he hit JJ Wetherholt with a pitch with one out, and a double by Ivan Herrera pulled the Cardinals to within a run at 3-2.
Morejon was able to get the second out of the inning, and that’s when Craig Stammen decided to make an unconventional move and turned to Mason Miller for a four-out save. Miller came in well rested, but it’s a sign of how much the new manager wanted a win with the Padres down 2-0 in the series. The closer ended the rally with a grounder to short by Jordan Walker to preserve the lead.
Manny Machado gave Miller some breathing room in the bottom of the eighth with a solo blast to left that made it 4-2. Miller then turned his outing into an adventure save in the ninth as he walked two hitters, with another reaching base on a strikeout that got past Fermin and went to the backstop.
That set up a final confrontation against JJ Wetherholt with the bases loaded and the tying runs in scoring position, but Miller was able to nail it down with a 102-mph fastball to put the Cardinals away. Vasquez got his fourth win and Miller picked up his 12th save of the season.
The win gives the Padres a chance to tie the series at 2-2 tomorrow as they send Walker Buehler to the mount with Kyle Leahy going for the Cardinals.