Cards Walk 12 Batters in 5-4 loss to Padres

The Cardinals began a series on Friday night with a Padres team that has been hit heavily by the coronavirus, starting Johan Oviedo against Joe Musgrove for San Diego. Both pitchers got into trouble a few times by walking batters, but Musgrove was able to work out of the jams while Oviedo was pulled after walking five and hitting a batter in two-plus innings. Unfortunately, the Cardinals bullpen didn’t fare much better, as Cards pitchers combined for twelve walks and three hit batters (Something to note though is that the HBP in the seventh was an egregiously bad call by the umpiring crew and should have been a foul ball). The Cardinals’ offense also left nineteen runners on base, making it a pretty tough game all-around for the Redbirds, despite home runs from Tyler O’Neill and Nolan Arenado.

1st Inning

Tommy Edman led off the game for the Cards, as usual, and chopped a 1-2 curveball down the first baseline for the first out of the game. Dylan Carlson got hit on the back foot by a back-foot slider to take first base on a hit-by-pitch. Paul Goldschmidt found a gap with a groundball on an 0-1 fastball for a hit to put two on with one away for Nolan Arenado. Arenado skied a 1-1 slider to deep left field for the second out. Yadier Molina ripped an 0-2 curve down the third baseline, but Manny Machado snagged it to end the Cards’ threat.

Trent Grisham started the first for the Padres and took a 1-1 fastball back up the middle for an infield hit, as Matt Carpenter got to it but couldn’t get enough on the throw to get Grisham at first. Machado doubled to left on a hanging slider, scoring Grisham from first for a 1-0 lead for the Pads.

Jake Cronenworth grounded a fastball to Edman at shortstop for the first out and moved Machado to third. Tommy Pham walked on a 3-2 curveball that missed outside to put runners at the corners for Brian O’Grady, who grounded into a 3-6-3 double play to end the inning.

2nd Inning

Carpenter grounded to first on an 0-1 curveball to begin the second inning. Tyler O’Neill got way under an 0-1 slider to pop out to first. Harrison Bader, swinging on a 3-0 count, flew out to right as the Redbirds were quickly retired in the second.

Austin Nola was hit by a 2-1 fastball to lead off the second for San Diego. Tucupita Marcano grounded a 3-1 fastball to Edman, but the Cards only got the lead runner as Carp was lined up far off of second and had to make an off-balance throw to first. Ha-Seong Kim worked a full count and flew out to left on the eighth pitch of his at-bat for the second out. Musgrove walked on four pitches, putting two on with two outs for the top of the Padres’ order. Grisham grounded a 2-1 fastball softly back to Oviedo to bring the frame to a close.

3rd Inning

Oviedo struck out, swinging over a 1-2 slider. Edman smoked a 2-0 hanging slider to right for a one-out single. Carlson walked on a 3-2 fastball that missed low. Goldschmidt, with two on and one out, got ahead 3-0 and drew a walk to load the bases. Arenado worked the count full before grounding into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Machado led off the third for the Padres with a five-pitch walk. Cronenworth drew another walk as Oviedo continued to have trouble finding the strike zone. Pham walked as well to load the bases with no outs, ending Oviedo’s start. Jake Woodford got the call to try to get out of the jam and got O’Grady to fly out to center for a sacrifice fly, putting the Padres up 2-0.

Nola, with runners on first and second with one out, got hit by a pitch for the second time in the game to load the bases again. Marcano grounded a curveball to Goldschmidt, who tagged the runner going to second, but didn’t have a play anywhere else and another run scored to extend San Diego’s lead to 3-0. Kim then grounded out to finally end the inning.

4th Inning

Yadi tore a double down the left field line on a 1-1 slider to start the fourth. Carpenter followed with a strikeout, waving at a high fastball. O’Neill went down swinging as well, this time on a 3-2 slider. Bader took two balls before getting walked intentionally to bring up Woodford, who was the third Cardinal to go down swinging in the inning, stranding two runners.

Musgrove struck out swinging to kick off the bottom of the frame. Grisham followed and walked on five pitches. Machado grounded a 3-0 fastball to Arenado who threw to second to get the lead runner. Cronenworth lined 0-1 fastball to right for a base hit. The 2-2 pitch to Pham got by Molina and advanced the runners, but Pham grounded out to second to leave both on base.

5th Inning

Edman took an 0-1 fastball the other way for a leadoff single. Carlson failed to hold up his swing on a 3-2 curveball for a strikeout. Golschmidt walked on a full-count slider that missed high. Arenado, representing the tying run, scorched a sharp grounder to Kim who couldn’t handle it at short, loading the bases. Yadi flew a 2-2 changeup to right, moving Goldschmidt to third and scoring Edman to close the deficit to 3-1.

Carpenter got a hold of a first-pitch changeup but hit it straight at Marcano for the final out.

The Cards made a double switch in the bottom of the fifth, bringing in Tyler Webb to pitch and hit in Carpenter’s spot, while the fresh call-up Max Moroff was brought in to play second and hit ninth. O’Grady grounded out on a 3-1 fastball for the first out. Nola struck out looking on three pitches. Marcano drew a walk on five pitches, which was the seventh walk issued by Cards pitchers on the evening. Kim went down swinging at a 2-2 sinker to send the game to the sixth.

6th Inning

The Padres made a double-switch in the top of the sixth. Craig Stammen came in to pitch, replacing Musgrove and hitting seventh, while Ivan Castillo came in to play second, hitting ninth. O’Neill took a 3-1 sinker inside-out, muscling it into right for a leadoff base hit. Bader followed with an infield hit to shortstop, bringing up Moroff. Moroff was welcomed with three straight curveballs for a swinging strikeout. Edman then grounded into a 6-3 double play, cutting another scoring opportunity short for the Cardinals.

Webb returned to pitch the sixth for St Louis and got Castillo to ground out on a 3-1 fastball, after which Grisham walked on five pitches. Mike Shildt then made another double switch, bringing in Seth Elledge to pitch and bat ninth, while Edmundo Sosa came in to play short, hitting sixth. Edman moved to second on the switch. The 2-1 pitch to Machado got away from Molina, moving Grisham to second. Machado then crushed a slider off the base of the left field wall to score Grisham and bring the score to 4-1 Padres.

Machado tried to steal second on the 1-0 pitch to Cronenworth but was thrown out by Molina for the second out. Cronenworth lined out to left to end the frame.

7th Inning

Carlson led off the seventh with a flyout to left on a 2-0 fastball after which the Padres brought in Austin Adams to pitch to the heart of the Cards’ order. Goldschmidt hit a 1-2 slider to right for a routine flyout. Arenado worked a full count and grounded a slider just inside third base for a two-out double to extend the inning. Yadi followed with a swinging strikeout on a fastball up and out of the zone to strand Arenado at second.

Pham began the bottom of the inning with a strikeout swinging through a 2-2 fastball. O’Grady drew a walk on a high 3-2 fastball. Nola worked a nine-pitch appearance and eventually drew another walk. Patrick Kivlehan, pinch hitting for Adams, got credit for a HBP that pretty obviously hit his bat to load the bases (the Cardinals burned their last challenge on a walk where they thought a Padres runner came off the bag at second, so there was no review of the play).

Kim then hit a sac fly to center to extend the Padres’ lead to 5-1. Castillo grounded a 3-1 sinker to first to end the seventh.

8th Inning

Emilio Pagan replaced Adams to pitch the top of the eighth. Edmundo Sosa got hit by a 2-2 fastball to lead off the inning and O’Neill got a hold of an 0-2 fastball and launched it over the right field wall for a two-run shot, making it 5-3 Padres.

Bader grounded out to third on the tenth pitch of his at-bat. Justin Williams pinch hit for Elledge and struck out looking at a fastball on the inner half of the plate. Edman struck out on three pitches, swinging through a fastball to end the Cards’ half of the frame.

Kodi Whitley pitched the eighth for St. Louis and walked Grisham to start the bottom of the frame. Machado drew a second walk on a 3-2 changeup in the dirt. Cronenworth popped out to Arenado on a 2-1 fastball for the first out. Pham grounded a changeup to Arenado, but the Cards only got the runner going to second as Pham beat out the throw to first. O’Grady jumped on a first-pitch fastball and flew out to deep right to send the game to the ninth.

9th Inning

Mark Melancon got the call for the save attempt for San Diego and John Andreoli replaced Tommy Pham in left field. Carlson went down swinging at a 1-2 cutter for the first out. Goldschmidt lined out to center on a curveball for the second out. Arenado blasted a rocket on a first-pitch cutter that hit off the front of the second deck in left to bring the Cards within one run with a 5-4 score.

The comeback fell just short, however, as Yadi grounded out to first to end the game with a final of 5-4 Padres.

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The Cardinals fell to 23-16 with the loss and the Padres improved to 22-17. While the Cards certainly didn’t deserve to win this one, it’s unfortunate that the run that ended up being the difference scored immediately after an umpiring mistake. However, that play likely doesn’t matter as much if the Redbirds don’t issue fourteen other free passes. The Cardinals continue the series on Saturday at 7:40 PM CT, with Adam Wainwright facing off against the Padres’ Chris Paddack.

Quick Notes

The Cards seem intent on leading the MLB in walks, as the twelve issued today puts the team at 170. This also put a lot of stress on the staff, as the Cardinals required a combined 184 pitches just to get through eight innings pitched on Friday.

Final Pitching Lines

Cardinals

Oviedo (L, 0-2): 2 IP / 2 H / 3 R / 3 ER / 5 BB / 0 K / 0 HR

Woodford: 2 IP / 1 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 1 BB / 1 K / 0 HR

Webb: 1.1 IP / 0 H / 1 R / 1 ER / 2 BB / 2 K / 0 HR

Elledge: 1.2 IP / 1 H / 1 R / 1 ER / 2 BB / 1 K / HR

Whitley: 1 IP / 0 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 2 BB / 0 K / 0 HR

Padres

Musgrove (W, 3-4): 5 IP / 5 H / 1 R / 1 ER / 4 BB / 5 K / 0 HR

Stammen (H, 2): 1.1 IP / 2 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 1 K / 0 HR

Adams (H, 4): 0.2 IP / 1 H / 0 R / 0 ER / 0 BB / 1 K / 0 HR

Pagan: 1 IP / 1 H / 2 R / 2 ER / 0 BB / 2 K / 1 HR

Melancon (S, 13): 1 IP / 1 H / 1 R / 1 ER / 0 BB / 1 K / 1 HR