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San Diego Padres Spoil St. Louis Cardinals Home Opener 5-3

San Diego Padres Spoil St. Louis Cardinals Home Opener 5-3

San Diego Padres Spoil St. Louis Cardinals Home Opener 5-3

The San Diego Padres used a three run seventh inning to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 Friday afternoon on Opening Day at Busch Stadium.

San Diego took advantage of reliever Alex Reyes’ wildness as the righthander issued back to back walks to Manny Machado and Franmil Reyes to start the inning with the game knotted 2-2.

Reyes (0-1) then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing runners to move to second and third.

Franchy Cordero’s sacrifice fly to center put the Padres on top 3-2, then rookie shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr. took Reyes deep with a home run over the left field wall, making it a 5-2 game.

Newly acquired first baseman Paul Goldschmidt gave the sellout crowd of 46,615 something to cheer about when he crushed a 408 foot home run over the center field wall in the bottom of the eighth, cutting the Padres’ lead to 5-3.

Goldschmidt’s home run, his fifth of the season, drew a loud ovation from the fans, who wanted him to come out of the dugout for a curtain call, but it didn’t seem appropriate for the first baseman.

“I appreciate that,” Goldschmidt said. “The fans here are amazing. I heard them cheering for me during announcements and my first at-bat and after the home run, but I kind of wanted to maintain my focus. We’re still down by two runs and trying to find anyway to win that game. I think that’s what the fans want more than anything. It’s about the team. It’s not about me.”

Padres closer Kirby Yates spoiled any kind of momentum for the home team by making  quick work of the Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth, retiring the side in order for his fourth save of the season.

San Diego reliever Robert Stock (1-0) picked up the win, despite giving up an RBI single by Marcell Ozuna in the bottom of the sixth that tied the contest 2-2.

St. Louis didn’t have a hit until the fourth inning when shortstop Paul DeJong took Padres starter Nick Margevicius deep, giving the Cards a 1-0 advantage.

Cards starter Jack Flaherty pitched six scoreless innings, working his way into and out of trouble every inning, as San Diego stranded nine base runners with the lefty on the mound.

Flaherty gave up six hits, walked two and struck out six.

“They put a lot of good at bats together,” Flaherty said. “I had to work out of a lot of tough spots. Just continuously working with Yadi and trying to execute those points and trying to take that execution in spots like that and take it earlier in counts and just try to get quicker outs.”

Manager Mike Schildt says despite allowing baserunners in each inning, Flaherty made pitches when he needed to. “It says a lot. It’s pitch-ability. It’s weapons. When you’ve got a guy with a lot of plus pitches and stuff, you ride the wave a little bit with it. In Jack’s case, you bear down and make pitches.”

The Padres put their first runs on the board in the sixth as pinch hitter Hunter Renfroe hit a two run homer to left off Cards reliever Dominic Leone.

The loss drops St. Louis to 3-4 on the season.

The Cards give the ball to Michael Wacha (0-0, 1.50 ERA) for Saturday’s 1:15 p.m. start.

He’ll be opposed by San Diego’s Chris Paddack (0-0, 1.80 ERA).

Game Notes: 

John Brebbia pitched two scoreless innings for the Cardinals, striking out four. That’s the most strikeouts by a St. Louis reliever in a game this season.

DeJong’s home run extended his hitting streak to six games.

The Cardinals lost their second straight home opener, falling to Goldschmidt’s Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 one year ago on April 5th.

 

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