Padres 4, Cardinals 3: Young Friars lead the way in rubber match victory

Three Padres played key roles in today’s win, and none of them are older than 25. Manuel Margot, the youngest at 22, went 3-for-4 while scoring half the team’s runs. Luis Perdomo is just 24 and held the Cardinals to two runs over six innings of work. And old man Carlos Asuaje used his third hit of the day to break the 2-2 tie in the ninth inning.

The game started as a pitchers’ duel, with both teams going scoreless for the first three innings. Old friend Jedd Gyorko put the Cards on the board in the bottom of the fourth when he doubled in Dexter Fowler. They held that lead until the sixth inning, when the Friars came out swinging.

Margot led off with his fifteenth double of the year, and Asuaje’s single put runners on the corner with nobody out. Jose Pirela drew a walk, and the bases were loaded. Yangervis Solarte popped out on a 3-0 count, and if you were worried the Padres were about to blow it, that’s normal. Thankfully, Carlos Martinez botched the throw on the very next play, allowing Margot to score and keeping the bases loaded. Matt Szczur followed up with an infield single, and the Friars had a lead... which lasted about ten minutes.

In the bottom half of the sixth, Paul Dejong hit a one-out double, and Yadier Molina followed up with a a two-out single to tie the game. That’s the way it stayed until the ninth inning. Jabari Blash went to the plate in place of Kirby Yates, and he took the first pitch he saw into right field for a single. Margot backed him up with a single into center, and Blash tested Fowler’s arm and won. Margot followed Jabari’s lead and took second on the throw. That set up Asuaje to single in Blash and put an insurance run on third. Jose Pirela hit a sac fly to bring that run home, and it proved important. Brad Hand gave a leadoff homer up to Randal Grichuk in the bottom half of the inning, but he retired the next three Cards to hold on for the save.

Travis Wood will open up the Players Weekend series against the Marlins tomorrow at 4:10 PM.