*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
St.Louis leads series 1-0
The first playoff game for the San Diego Padres in 14 years did not go according to plan. Paul Goldschmidt homered, Matt Carpenter drove in a pair of runs, and the St.Louis Cardinals beat the Padres by a 7-4 score in game one of the wild card round. The Cardinals are seasoned playoff veterans, and they showed that in game one, always staying one step ahead of the Padres.
The Cardinals started the scoring in the first inning, when Paul Goldschmidt hit a two run homer to make it 2-0 Cardinals. Yadier Molina then hit an RBI single, and Carpenter hit a sac fly, making it 4-0 Cardinals. The Padres got one run back in the bottom of the first on a sac fly, making it a 4-1 game. In the second, Austin Nola hit a sac fly to make it 4-2. In the 3rd, Paul Dejong and Carpenter both hit RBI singles to make it 6-2. The Padres got another run in the bottom of the 3rd on an RBI single from Tommy Pham. In the 6th, Nola hit another sac fly to make it 6-4. In the 9th, Dexter Fowler hit an RBI single to make it 7-4 Cardinals, which held.
Goldschmidt talked about the 4 run first inning for the Cardinals, saying after the game that "We didn't come out and say we needed to be aggressive, I just think guys were ready to hit, he threw what, 10 strikes to start the game, so it wasn't like we were swinging at stuff out of the zone. It just happened that we got hits."
Giovanny Gallegos got the win for the Cardinals, pitching 1 1/3 innings of relief work. Gallegos only allowed one baserunner, a walk, in his appearance. Kwang Hyun Kim started for the Cardinals, throwing 3 2/3 innings. Kim allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and two walks, striking out two hitters. Ryan Helsley, Genesis Cabrera, Andrew Miller, and Alex Reyes also pitched for the Cardinals.
With the loss, the Padres fell to 0-4 in the postseason at home, with all 4 losses coming against the Cardinals. Manager Jayce Tingler said that the Cardinals "came out swinging first pitch and they barrelled some balls up, he never really got the chance to settle in and they came out really aggressive and found some barrels."
Chris Paddack took the loss for the Padres, lasting just 2 1/3 innings. Paddack allowed 6 runs on 8 hits, striking out just one hitter. Paddack said that "I noticed early that they were jumping on my fastball, I thought we did an awesome job of executing our pitches. I guess that's postseason baseball. I take all the blame for Game 1. The game speeds up in a postseason start," he added. "Every pitch I was mentally fatigued because I knew every pitch was important."
The series continues Thursday, where the Padres look to avoid elimination and falling to 0-5 in the playoffs at home, all against the Cardinals. Zach Davies will start for the Padres. Adam Wainwright gets the start for St.Louis.
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