Busch Stadium – St. Louis

The San Diego Padres headed to Busch Stadium to play game one of a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday. At the moment, both teams are playing some of their best baseball yet.

The Padres took two out of three against the Baltimore Orioles this weekend, scoring 17 total runs. Just a few runs shy of their last two home stands combined. The Red Birds, despite losing their most recent series against the Minnesota Twins, put up 21 runs, many of which were home runs with runners on.

Despite this, neither team’s bats would really spring to life in this game. Instead, we saw an uphill battle between the struggling bats of the Padres and the near-unbeatable will of Cardinals pitcher Dustin May.

Dustin May is a familiar foe of the Padres. Once upon a time, the man was a Los Angeles Dodger uniform and performed pretty well against the Friars. Last month, he lasted six innings against the Pads, allowing two runs and striking out seven. Monday would prove to be a similar outing while the Padres figure out what to do with their starting rotation.

The Padres announced earlier today that lefty Wandy Peralta will handle the top of the Cards’ lineup. He did so with little issue, giving a quick 11-pitch first inning to start the Padres.

Lucas Giolito served as today’s bulk pitcher. Very likely a strategic move to conserve the bullpen as Giolito, on average, only lasts about four innings, and the club won’t have an off day until Thursday.

Giolito began his run with two back-to-back hits from Jordan Walker and Lars Nootbaar, but brought things back just as fast as he let them go.

Nobody would score until the fourth inning. Despite a very athletic home run robbery from Jackson Merrill, Giolito would allow two men on base to turn into two runs after catcher Jimmy Crooks hit a two-out double.

Jackson Merrill, everyone. pic.twitter.com/jIJRqgsAge

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 16, 2026

Another two-out double in the following inning would make the score 3-0. He would end his run after pitching five innings.

Mason Miller was unavailable today, per the Padres X Account, on bereavement/family medical leave.

We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/ne8fGCJfLw

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 15, 2026

In response, the Padres added back lefty Kyle Hart, who saw some action today on the mound, closing out the game for the Padres with two scoreless innings.

Outside of a few hiccups, Giolito did hold his own against an offense that was pretty hot off the press. The most reassuring thing about Giolito was that he kept the walks low with just three today. All things considered, he was pretty efficient, just not as efficient as Dustin May.

May would finish the entire Padres starting lineup in three innings on 29 pitches. The Padres were making contact, but nearly all of it converted to outs when all was said and done. May went on to finish six innings of what would have been a perfect game up until he walked Fernando Tatis Jr. to start the seventh. It then became a no-hitter, subsequently broken up by Manny Machado. Dustin May would stay in for a complete game shutout against the Padres, the first of his career.

The Padres play game two against the Cardinals on Tuesday, June 16, at 4:45 PDT. Probable pitchers for the Padres and Cardinals are Michael King (4-5, 3.46 ERA) and Andre Pallante (7-4, 3.88 ERA), respectively.

Fabian Garcia