Busch Stadium – St. Louis

Following a loud, 9-7 loss to St. Louis in the opener yesterday, the Padres

Nick Pivetta made the 21st start of his impressive 2025 campaign. He came into Friday with a 2.81 ERA, looking to set a new career-high in wins with 11. The opportunity was certainly there. Dating back to June 26, he’s posting a 0.59 ERA with 36 strikeouts and a .162 batting average against.

Making the start for the Cardinals was the 36-year-old veteran Miles Mikolas. A dedicated strike thrower, Mikolas has a career walk rate of just over four percent. In turn, his ERA has been north of five in both 2024 and 2025. In his last start, Eugenio Suárez of the Diamondbacks tagged him for a pair of homers, with his final line coming out to five runs over just four innings.

Earlier in the day, the Padres recalled right-handed reliever Ron Marinaccio from Triple-A. To clear for his arrival, Kyle Hart returned to El Paso. This marks Marinaccio’s second time being called up, although he never made an appearance on the mound.

The early theme for both sides was poor at-bats. First, Luis Arraez grounded out on a curveball that was well-up-and-away. Then, the Cardinals went 1-2-3 with a weak two-pitch lineout, strikeout, and first-pitch popout. After that, the Padres continued the trend by handing Mikolas a five-pitch inning.

In an unexpected manner, tempers flared in the bottom of the second inning. In a matchup between Pivetta and Willson Contreras, a pair of extremely competitive personalities, resulted in a hit by pitch. Pivetta appeared to tell Contreras, “Don’t look at me”, which caused the benches to clear following Contreras’ response. The hit by pitch was followed by an error and sacrifice bunt, which turned into a run on an RBI groundout. Yohel Pozo hit it hard enough to give Xander Bogaerts a chance to throw home, but he opted for the safe out at first.

Down 1-0, San Diego found a quick opportunity to plate the tying run. With one out, Elias Diaz lined a single to right after working a deep count. Afterwards, Fernando Tatis Jr. smacked a sun-aided double that flew over the head of Jordan Walker, putting some RBIs on the table for Luis Arraez and Manny Machado. However, Arraez shallowly flew out, and Machado grounded out to end the threat.

The following inning was another frustrating one. Jackson Merrill led off with a single, and Bogaerts followed with a hit of his own. With two runners on, Gavin Sheets flew out to right field, and Merrill advanced to third base. However, Bogaerts confusingly broke for second and was easily out. To cap off the inning, Jake Cronenworth chased a curveball down-and-in to strike out.

Pivetta added to the mistake total with a pair of uncompetitive walks that turned into runs. After walking two on nine pitches, Masyn Winn split the gap perfectly to plate two runs. The Cardinals extended their lead to 3-0, which, at the point, felt unearned on their side.

It’s goin’ down for real pic.twitter.com/NG4dpa0LHZ

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 26, 2025

A positive sign for San Diego amidst the struggles was Fernando Tatis Jr. catching fire. Six of his seven batted balls in the past two games were hit 95+ MPH off the bat. He homered and collected two singles on Thursday, and notched two doubles on Friday. He had been 3-22 coming out of the All-Star break, and needed a bounce-back series.

Mikolas exited the contest earlier than usual, after allowing a leadoff single in the sixth inning. Left-hander Steven Matz replaced him and narrowly allowed a single to Jackson Merrill on the first pitch. Matz did allow a hit to the righty Bogaerts, but turned a pretty double play to end the inning. Bogaerts’ single was the Padres’ eighth of the game, six more than the Cardinals’ total to that point.

Although he was visibly missing his typical command, Pivetta still managed to escape six innings with just two earned runs. His mound presence was a constant and earned him some easy outs on the lesser hitters. He allowed just three hits, the two walks, and struck out three on the day.

Phil Maton entered the game for St. Louis in the seventh and allowed another runner into scoring position. A wild pitch allowed Jose Iglesias to advance into scoring position. However, Trenton Brooks and Fernando Tatis Jr. couldn’t plate him, following the day’s trend.

Wandy Peralta was the first out of the bullpen in the seventh and made quick work of the Cardinals’ 8-9-1 hitters. He was followed by David Morgan, who took on the eighth inning. Morgan worked less efficiently, but also escaped unscathed with the aid of a double play.

Two-time All-Star closer Ryan Helsley came on for the save opportunity and secured the win for the Cardinals. In his first at-bat, he struck out Gavin Sheets on a 102 MPH fastball right on the corner. Jose Iglesias managed a hit on a middle-middle fastball, and left it up to Martin Maldonado. Maldonado’s first at-bat of the game came against a flamethrowing right-hander, which wasn’t anywhere close to an optimal matchup. He struck out on three pitches, as Helsley collected the save.

The final score depicted a shutout 3-0 loss in favor of St. Louis. However, San Diego’s bats were certainly not quiet. The Padres outhit the Cardinals 11-5, but were unable to capitalize on the traffic they created. San Diego went 0-9 with runners in scoring position, losing them their third-straight game, outhitting opponents in all of them.

Following the loss, Mike Shildt shared his frustration, stating that the Padres “outhit them, they just played cleaner”.  “We beat ourselves”, he admitted, “we gave up too much free stuff.”

When inquired about the weight of the trade deadline coming up, Shildt denied any concerns in the clubhouse. “The trade deadline’s the trade deadline”, he said, “we in that clubhouse know where we’re at.” As it stands, San Diego holds the final NL Wild Card spot by a half game over the San Francisco Giants. However, the final games leading up could sway the Padres’ front office to pursue a Dylan Cease trade or a similar action.

San Diego will continue the four-game set tomorrow, with Randy Vasquez on the mound. For the Cardinals, it’ll be the tall left-hander Matthew Liberatore making the start. First pitch is set for 4:15 PM

Willy Warren

A 17-year-old San Diego native, Willy Warren is a baseball fan at heart who created High Leverage Baseball, a public baseball media account covering around-the-league statistical analysis and breakdowns on X. Willy is set to attend the Cronkite School of Journalism in the fall of 2026 at Arizona State University, where he’ll pursue a major in sports journalism.