Cardinals fall to Padres in rubber match action; St. Louis without a series win in second half of season
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KMIZ)
The St. Louis Cardinals continued what has been an abysmal return from the MLB All-Star break, on Sunday, as the group fell to the San Diego Padres 7-3 in rubber match action.
With the loss, St. Louis dipped one game below the .500 mark, 56-67 overall. Skipper Oli Marmol and company have yet to win a series in the second half of the season, with the club's last series win coming on July 10.
The birds had an opportunity to snap that skid, on Sunday, but got behind early courtesy of a stellar outing from San Diego's Dylan Cease. The right-hander threw a 5.0 inning shutout, allowing just one hit and striking out nine Cardinal batters.
On the other side, the Padres had no problem figuring out the STL pitching staff. Starter Andre Pallante made it 5.0 innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits. However, Gordon Graceffo, who came in for Pallante in relief, allowed the most damage, yielding four earned runs on the afternoon.
San Diego scored seven, unanswered runs through eight innings, highlighted by home runs off the bat of Jake Cronenworth and Ramon Laureano.
Although the Cardinals were able to plate three runs in the ninth, it was to no avail.
As of Aug. 3, Marmol and company sit 12.0 games out of first place in the National League Central standings and 6.5 games out of a spot in the playoffs.
Up next - St. Louis will stay in California to face the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game set. Game one is set to start at 9:10 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4.
