The San Diego Padres can be trying to generate extra offense and play higher protection as they proceed their push towards the postseason.
They misplaced two of three video games in Miami this week earlier than coming to St. Louis for a four-game sequence in opposition to the Cardinals that begins Thursday evening.
San Diego scored simply seven runs within the sequence in opposition to the Marlins whereas remaining within the Nationwide League’s third wild-card slot.
“We’re enjoying a whole lot of video games the place we do not have a whole lot of margin for error,” Padres supervisor Mike Shildt mentioned after his staff took a 3-2 loss to the Marlins on Wednesday. “We play a whole lot of clear video games, and (Wednesday), we gave away a bit of an excessive amount of that price us.”
The Padres sit twenty fifth within the majors in runs scored. As such, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has expressed an curiosity in buying extra offense earlier than the commerce deadline.
“We have got to place ourselves in good place no matter what occurs on the deadline,” San Diego third baseman Manny Machado mentioned. “We need to make a postseason run. We need to get deep into the postseason. That truth does not change whether or not we do something or we do not. We have simply obtained to go on the market and play higher baseball than we did these previous couple of days.”
Machado dedicated a throwing error in every of the 2 losses at Miami.
“It got here all the way down to some silly errors I made that allowed some dumb runs,” he mentioned. “Would’ve been a distinct story if I performed a bit of higher protection. While you’re enjoying video games like this, I believe it comes all the way down to protection.
“That is why we misplaced. These silly errors.”
The Padres will open the St. Louis sequence with Yu Darvish on the mound. The fitting-hander has struggled to an 0-2 document and 6.08 ERA in his three begins since returning to the rotation following an elbow harm that sidelined him for the primary half of the season.
Darvish has made 9 lifetime begins vs. St. Louis, going 2-4 with a 3.20 ERA.
San Diego will catch the Cardinals reeling from a 1-5 begin after the All-Star break. St. Louis obtained swept at Arizona, then misplaced two of three video games at Colorado.
Throughout the 5 defeats, the Cardinals had been outscored 36-11. St. Louis supervisor Oliver Marmol was most dissatisfied together with his hitters after his staff misplaced to the Rockies 6-0 on Wednesday afternoon — Colorado’s first shutout win since Might 15, 2024.
“Our approaches weren’t excellent,” Marmol mentioned. “For my part, that is the worst sport we have performed.”
The Cardinals’ offense has sagged when the staff has fallen behind early in video games over the previous week.
“That is a part of it,” Marmol mentioned. “We have achieved it a good quantity after the break. It does take it out of you. You could have to have the ability to separate it. That is a part of being mentally powerful. You have to separate what is going on on on that facet of the ball and nonetheless take productive at-bats and maintain your method.”
The Cardinals will open the sequence with Sonny Grey (9-4, 4.04 ERA), who’s coming off an unpleasant 10-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday. He allowed 9 runs (eight earned) on 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings in that contest.
Grey is 3-0 with a 1.58 ERA in three profession begins in opposition to the Padres.
–Area Stage Media