Cards Beat Padres 2-0 Behind Martinez CGSO

This may be a day off for most of you, but the masses demand piping hot Cardinals content, so I am here to provide you with the latest and greatest*.

*Content not guaranteed to be “greatest”

Lineup:

It’s Carlos Martinez day! His Padres opponent was Luis Perdomo, who he faced less than 2 weeks ago (this would be the game where the Padres scored 2 in the ninth to win). The Cardinals look to restore balance to the universe with a win in this rematch.

El Gallo struck first - both by not allowing a hit or walk through the first two innings, and also by getting the first Cardinals hit.

In the fourth inning, the Cardinals got on the board. After loading the bases up with a Tommy Pham single, a Paul DeJong walk (a phrase that has gotten marginally less surprising over the past few weeks), and a Jose Martinez single, Yadier Molina drove in two with a single to center field. Despite having two on with no outs after this, the Cardinals were not able to produce any extra runs.

The fifth inning also looked promising for the Cardinals, although would eventually yield no runs. Randal Grichuk walked, Pham singled again, and DeJong was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Perdomo was able to induce a flyout by Jose Martinez.

Despite a Greg Garcia single and Randal Grichuk double in the sixth, the Padres would escape unscathed.

In the seventh inning, Tommy Pham was removed from the game with right shoulder soreness. Whatever protective incantations, spells, or Patronuses have held him together this season are possibly strained to their breaking point. Oh, and Matt Carpenter would also exit the game with a strained shoulder. It would be peak Tommy Pham if he somehow managed to contract the first-ever communicable shoulder injury.

No more runs would transpire - the Cardinals would stay at 2 runs.

Underlying all of this, however, was the excellence of Carlos Martinez. In his second complete game shutout of the season (the other being 6/10 against the Phillies), his final line was 3 H, 3 BB, 10 K. Game Score of 92 - his best mark of the season.

Cardinals continue against the Padres tomorrow at the absolutely ridiculous time of 9:10 CT.