Padres Falter as Cardinals Rally, But Arraez Stays Red-Hot
If you missed the Padres-Cardinals game on August 2nd, let me catch you up—because it had everything: hot streaks, homers, comebacks, and unfortunately for San Diego, a rough ending.
So, the game started on a high note for the Padres. Luis Arraez kept his momentum going, ripping a double in the first inning to stretch his hitting streak to 15 games—his personal best and the longest active streak in the majors right now. He’s been absolutely dialed in since the All-Star break, hitting over .400 during that stretch. That double wasn’t just a stat-padder either—he’d end up scoring thanks to a sharp RBI single by Manny Machado, giving San Diego the early 1-0 lead.
Then in the second, the Padres added more fuel to the fire. Ramón Laureano drove in another run with a triple, and Freddy Fermin added a third on a groundout. By the end of the second inning, it was 3-0 Padres. Then came Jackson Merrill with a solo shot in the third, pushing the lead to 4-0. Everything seemed to be going San Diego’s way.
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But then the tide turned—fast.
The top of the fourth is where the Cardinals made their move. Nolan Gorman got them on the board with an RBI single, and then Pedro Pagés delivered the dagger—a three-run bomb that tied the game at 4-4. Suddenly, Petco Park got a little quieter. And it didn’t stop there. In the fifth, Masyn Winn—who leads MLB in Outs Above Average defensively—came through with a two-run double to put the Cards up 6-4.
The Padres' bats went cold just when they needed to heat back up. Michael McGreevy, the Cardinals' starter, settled in and struck out Laureano in the sixth. Meanwhile, the Cardinals kept pushing. In the ninth, they added two more insurance runs with an RBI single from Alec Burleson and a sac fly from Willson Contreras. The Padres got one back in the bottom of the ninth with a Freddy Fermin RBI single, but that was it.
Final score? 8-5, Cardinals. Not the result the Padres wanted, especially with playoff positioning on the line.
Still, there were positives. Arraez is on fire and climbing back into the NL batting title race. He’s hitting .299 now, chasing big names like Will Smith and Freddie Freeman. His consistency at the plate is giving the Padres a serious boost in this wild-card push. And while the loss stings, the bigger picture still looks promising—the Padres remain just three games behind the Dodgers in the division and ahead of the Reds in the wild-card hunt.
Bottom line: the bats are there. The question is whether the pitching can hold. If it does, and if Arraez keeps hitting like this, San Diego’s playoff dreams are still very much alive.
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