3 things we learned in the Padres’ 4-1 loss to the Cardinals

Hunter Renfroe and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad 4th Inning

Hunter Renfroe continues to light the world on fire with his bat (1-3 with a BB), but it was the rest of his game that maybe ended up costing the San Diego Padres a victory on this day.

In the top of the 4th inning, after doubling to start the inning, Renfroe tried tagging up on a Fernando Tatis Jr. flyball to CF and was thrown out at 3B to end the inning. Considering he was already in scoring position, and that old saying of “you don’t want to make the last out of the inning at 3B,” this was a pretty clear mistake by Renfroe.

In the bottom of the 4th, after Matt Strahm started the inning with a walk, Renfroe lost a lazy flyball to LF and had it drop just beyond the reach of his glove. It was a truly embarrassing error that resulted in runners on 2B and 3B with no outs. It was followed by a double by Paul DeJong that knocked in both runners and gave the St. Louis Cardinals a lead they held the rest of the game.

Return of the Matt

Matt Strahm bounced back from his first outing of the season to pitch 5 strong innings, giving up only the two runs that got into scoring position on Renfroe’s error. His ERA is still over 7, but headed in the right direction.

When it comes to #5 starters in the rotation, 5 IP and 1 ER is about what you’re expecting. I have no complaints about how Strahm handled himself on the mound today. I do have some complaints about how terrible the umpires were all game long, but I’ll hold onto those for another day,

What’s with the 2-inning relief appearances?

Andy Green seems to be pushing his relievers harder this season, asking one of his relievers to pitch 2 full innings almost every game. To this point, it hasn’t worked out very well for anyone but the long relievers.

Robert Stock’s ERA sits at 9.00 after 5 appearances, and Adam Warren’s ERA got up to 7.20 after starting off his 2nd inning poorly today. Aaron Loup attempted to put out the fire when he entered in the 7th, but ended up giving up a sacrifice fly to Matt Carpenter.