Major League Baseball’s (MLB) San Diego Padres have been swept by the St. Louis Cardinals, who have the second-worst winning percentage in the National League, further diminishing their fall baseball hopes. The Padres have a -9 win-loss margin and are uncharacteristically weak in extra innings.
The Padres dropped a 5-6 heartbreaker to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Leading 5-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Padres gave up the tying run in the bottom of the eighth on a bullpen miscue and then lost the game in extra innings when closer Josh Hader gave up an RBI single to Tommy Hyun-Soo Edmon.
Ha-Sung Kim, who started in the leadoff spot, went 2-for-3 with a double, one walk, one RBI and one run scored, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the loss.
San Diego, desperate for one win to clinch a postseason berth, was swept by the Cardinals and is now 1-4 in its last five games. At 62-71, the Padres are now 7.5 games out of the third wild-card spot, which is the last one available for fall baseball, with the San Francisco Giants at 69-63.
There are many reasons why the Padres are underperforming this season, including a lack of depth after investing heavily in Darvish Yu, Manny Machado, and signing Xander Bogaerts to long-term contracts.
San Diego has played 11 extra-inning games against St. Louis and hasn’t won a single one. According to MLB.com, the odds of a team losing 11 consecutive extra-inning games are only 1 in 2048.
It’s also the second-worst overtime record in Major League Baseball, behind only the 1969 Montreal Expos (12 games).
Had the team performed well in overtime, San Diego’s position could have been even higher. However, it’s not that the Earthquakes were weak in overtime simply because they were unlucky.
The Padres have been down and out, unable to capitalize on their numerous chances. The Padres batted just .160 in extra innings and only hit one home run, and that wasn’t enough to turn the tide when they were down by four runs.토토사이트
San Diego’s manager was frustrated with the team’s lack of color in extra innings. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to come through in games like this all season,” said manager Bob Melvin. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to execute in these games this season, and today was one of those games,” Melvin said, adding, “We’ve just got to get through it.