Wednesday’s Game Report: Padres 6, Cardinals 1
By Rob Rains
The good news for Kyle Leahy is that he was able to get through six innings on Wednesday, only the second time he has been able to do that in his 14 starts this season.
The bad news is that by the team he worked that clean sixth inning, the Padres were already leading 3-1 en route to a victory that kept the Cardinals from completing a sweep of the three-game series at Busch Stadium.
The loss also prevented the Cardinals from reaching 10 games above the .500 mark for the season, a plateau they haven’t seen since the end of the 2022 season.
It was their fourth attempt to get to that mark, and they fell to 0-4 in those games.
The Padres scored single runs off Leahy in the first, fourth and fifth and then put the game out of reach with three runs in the ninth inning off Chris Roycroft, two coming on a home run by Jackson Merrill.
Here is how Wednesday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals’ only run scored in the fifth inning, the only inning in which they put more than one runner on base. Blaze Jordan led off the inning with a walk and Nathan Church followed with a single. A groundout advanced the runners to second and third, but Jordan was thrown out at the plate on a fielder’s choice grounder by Ivan Herrera. Alec Burleson then drove in the run with a single to right … That hit extended Burleson’s hitting streak to a career-high 17 games … Herrera was hit by another pitch, the third time he was hit in the series and the 19th time he has been hit this season … The single by Burleson was their only hit in five at-bats with a runner in scoring position.
On the mound: Leahy had not pitched more than five innings in his previous four starts. The only other time he went six innings was on May 16, which also was his last win. He gave up seven hits, walked one and struck out seven … Matt Svanson retired four of the five batters he faced … Roycroft relieved Justin Bruihl with two outs and two runners on base in the eighth. He hit the first hitter he faced to load the bases before he did get out of the inning. He wasn’t that lucky in the ninth, when he allowed four hits and walked two, leading to the three Padres runs.
Key stat: In his 17-game hitting streak, Burleson has gone 22-of-71, a .310 average, with six homers, five doubles, 18 RBIs and 14 runs scored. It’s the longest hitting streak for the Cardinals since Masyn Winn had a hit in 18 consecutive games in 2024.
Worth noting: One day after Joshua Baez hit four home runs for Memphis, Yohel Pozo had a big day for the Triple A club. His four-hit day included two homers, a double and a single … Tink Hence started the game and worked two innings, his longest outing of the season and the first time he has worked more than 1 1/3 innings since April 8. He allowed a home run, struck out two and did not walk a batter … In Springfield’s game at Wichita, Rainiel Rodriguez hit his eighth homer of the season, his fourth since he was promoted to the Double A club.
Up next: The Cardinals will play a three-game series against the Royals this weekend in Kansas City. It’s a rare Thursday, Friday, Sunday series, as the two teams have the day off on Saturday because of the World Cup game at Arrowhead Stadium. Matthew Liberatore will get the start on Thursday night. Friday night’s game will be exclusively televised by Apple TV.
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