Padres drop Game 2 against Cardinals; lose series
Credit: CBS Sports
The San Diego Padres played game two against the St. Louis Cardinals today at Busch Stadium, following a very rough outing the previous day. Dustin May nearly no-hit the Padres until it was broken up all the way in the seventh.
For a period of time, it felt like Tuesday’s match against the Cardinals would be a near-perfect mirror of yesterday. Andre Pallante is a ground-ball pitcher, and the Padres are very good at hitting ground balls. Much like May, he was extremely efficient to start the game, and despite what looks would tell you, Michael King wasn’t too far behind either.
Before the game, there was a lot of conversation between Craig Stammen and the media on getting King back to form and going deeper into games. A lot of this has to do with command of the pitches that have become his trademark, like his changeup and his two-seam sinker. At his best, he’s dotting the edges of the zone, fooling hitters. At the worst, he’s mislocating right into the barrel of the batter.
Craig Stammen spoke about not just flushing yesterday’s game while also trying to learn from it, the importance of Michael King getting back on track and the latest injury updates on Freddy Fermin and Miguel Andujar: pic.twitter.com/T00kKLuQDV
— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) June 16, 2026
Tuesday was a little bit of both, much to the chagrin of the Padres.
The Cards got to King early, who struggled in the second inning, allowing a walk for Lars Nootbaar, followed by back-to-back two-out RBIs from Blaze Jordan and Nathan Church.
While the inning ended with the Padres trailing by two, King had already thrown 49 pitches. The Cardinals continued to play hardball with King, aggressively attacking any pitch even remotely hittable. Thankfully, King settled in, giving two consecutive scoreless frames. Leaving in the fifth inning with two runners on and one out. Matsui would provide relief to start on and cashed in one of King’s runners, charging him with the run. Despite not looking pretty while doing it, King kept the game within reach. The bullpen, even more so, pitched three consecutive scoreless innings, leaving the Friars plenty of room to catch up.
The Padres were once again hitless the majority of the game until the fifth inning. Samad Taylor got an infield hit going toward Gold Glover Maysn Winn, who he beat out to secure first base. The play was challenged, but the safe call was upheld. Taylor was noticeably out of the lineup during yesterday’s shutout. His role as the Padres premiere hitter couldn’t be more emphasized after today, giving the Padres some much-needed confidence.
A two-out line drive from Ty France would allow Taylor to score. However, the rally ended just as it got going after France got called out at second, trying to extend his lead. In any case, this would end a near 14-inning scoreless drought against the Cards this series.
Luckily, the Padres weren’t ready to go out without a fight. Another two-out flare from Fernando Tatis Jr. in the sixth put him on first base. Jackson Merrill subsequently hit a gapper between left and center field that gave Fernando just enough room to score.
Jackson Merrill cuts the deficit to one with an RBI double 👀 pic.twitter.com/OZYHOruYrF
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) June 17, 2026
Down to their last three outs, the Padres had to face Cardinals closer Riely O’Brien. A two-out walk from Manny Machado inspired some hope in the Friars. However, another groundout from Xander Bogaerts ended the ballgame.
The series finale between the Padres and Cardinals is Wednesday, June 17, at 11:35 PDT.The
The Padres are to use an opener for the game, but Griffin Canning (0-5, 7.17 ERA) will be the bulk pitcher. Kyle Leahy (5-3, 4.64 ERA) gets the nod for the Cardinals.
