![May 14, 2021; San Diego, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (4) slides into second base ahead of the tag by San Diego Padres second baseman Tucupita Marcano (L) after hitting a double during the fourth inning as umpire Greg Gibson (C) looks on at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports](https://sportsnaut.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/16085507.jpg?resize=788,444)
Manny Machado drove in two runs with a pair of hits and the Padres took advantage of 12 walks and three hit batters from St. Louis pitchers Friday night as San Diego defeated the visiting Cardinals 5-4 in the opener of a three-game series.
Four of the walks drawn by the Padres scored. San Diego scored two runs in the third and one in the seventh without benefit of a hit, and the Padres drew at least one walk in every inning. They had only four hits.
Machado was moved to second in the Padres order because manager Jayce Tingler wanted a closer link between Machado and lead-off hitter Trent Grisham with four regulars are out of the lineup due to COVID-related issues. Machado responded with an RBI double in the first and a run-scoring single in the sixth — driving home Grisham both times.
Grisham led off the first with a single off St. Louis starter Johan Oviedo (0-2) and raced around on Machado’s double. In the sixth, Grisham drew a one-out walk from Tyler Webb, took second on a wild pitch by Seth Elledge and scored on Machado’s second hit of the game.
Those rallies sandwiched a two-run third inning. Oviedo issued three straight walks to Machado, Jake Cronenworth and Tommy Pham to open the inning. Machado scored on a sacrifice fly by Brian O’Grady, and Cronenworth scored on a groundout by Tucupita Marcano to make it 3-1.
In the seventh, O’Grady and Austin Nola drew one-out walks, and pinch-hitter Patrick Kivlehan was awarded a hit-by-pitcher (although the ball appeared on video to have been clearly fouled off) to load the bases ahead of a sacrifice fly by Ha-Seong Kim.
Tommy Edman singled leading off the St. Louis fifth against Padres starter Joe Musgrove (3-4) and scored on Yadier Molina’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. In the eighth, Tyler O’Neill hit a two-run homer off Emilio Pagan to bring the Cardinals to within 5-3.
Musgrove held the Cardinals to a run on five hits. He walked four and struck out five.
Mark Melancon picked up his majors-best 13th save despite giving up a solo homer to Nolan Arenado with two out in the ninth.
Oviedo gave up three runs on two hits and five walks in two-plus innings.
–Field Level Media