Padres hold on in ninth inning, take series from Cardinals

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug 3, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — The Dylan Cease who is staying was a little better than the one who was going.

The Padres’ offense sputtered a bit but got one big hit and then a couple more.

Their augmented bullpen did its job almost as prescribed and eventually to the end.

It was far more complicated that it needed to be, but the Padres eventually beat the Cardinals, 7-3, on Sunday to win their first series after the trade deadline and finish off a winning homestand.

Jake Cronenworth’s two-run homer in the fourth inning was the first blow for the Padres. Jackson Merrill’s bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning made it a rout. New left fielder Ramón Laureano completed their scoring with a home run.

The Cardinals got one hit in the first inning off Cease, who the Padres kept at Thursday’s trade deadline after listening to offers for the right-hander practically up until the last minute, and then did not get another until the ninth.

That is when they scored their three runs against Adrian Morejón.

The only thing more that really could have been asked of Cease was that he not take 90 pitches to get through five innings. But he did so while allowing just one hit and striking out nine.

And the Padres can thrive more often with this version of Cease far more easily than the one that entered the game with a 4.79 ERA.

That is presumably especially so with the deep bullpen.

On Sunday, it was Jason Adam who relieved Cease and worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning before Jeremiah Estrada struck out all three batters he faced in the seventh.

Mason Miller was getting ready to pitch the eighth but sat down after Merrill’s triple.

David Morgan walked the first batter he faced in the eighth before striking out the next three.

Morejón, who had not pitched since Tuesday, came in ostensibly to get some work and ended up creating some havoc.

Two singles and a walk loaded the bases. Two more singles brought in two runs.

Suddenly, it was a save situation.

Padres manager Mike Shildt went to Robert Suarez, who got a strikeout, a sacrifice fly and allowed a single that re-loaded the bases before sticking out a glove to catch a line drive that ended the game.

So it turned out to be a really good turn of events that the Padres’ offense caught fire after playing with fire for the first three innings.

The Padres’ first two batters reached base in the first inning, but they got a little cute and had any chance at a run fizzle before it started.

They got a little luck to start the second and then a little more luck and still did not score.

They forced the action in the third, got closer to scoring but left the bases loaded without doing so.

How that all went down:

Fernando Tatis Jr. walked leading off bottom of the first but was thrown out trying to steal before Luis Arraez singled. Manny Machado came up, fouled off a bunt attempt on the first pitch he saw and struck out two pitches later before a groundout by Merrill.

After first baseman Alec Burleson lost Xander Bogaerts’ pop fly in the sun to start the second inning, second baseman Thomas Saggese fielded Ryan O’Hearn’s grounder and threw wide of second base. That gave the Padres’ runners at first and second with no outs. A double-play grounder by Laureano and a pop out by Cronenworth quickly ended the threat.

The third was a bigger gut punch, as Freddy Fermin laid down a bunt single and Tatis drew his second walk to bring Arraez to the plate with two on. Arraez grounded a ball back to Cardinals starter Andre Pallante, who threw to third base to force out Fermin. Machado followed with a strikeout before Merrill walked. And Bogaerts struck out to leave the bases full.

The Padres finally scored in the fourth when Cronenworth followed Laureano’s infield single with a 398-foot blast to right-center field.

A four-run seventh inning began with Fermin grounding a single through the right side and Tatis moving him to third base with a double. After a shallow fly out by Arraez, Machado walked and Merrill grounded the first pitch he saw from Gordon Graceffo just inside first base and to the right-field corner to clear the bases. Merrill scored on a sacrifice fly by Bogaerts.

Laureano led off the eighth inning with a home run.