San Diego Padres Fight Back to Beat Cardinals 5-3 in Extra Innings
It may be just one game, but you have to hand it to the San Diego Padres. They probably had no business beating the St. Louis Cardinals in their season opener today, but they did anyway, winning by the final of 5-3 in 11 innings.
On the mound for the Cardinals was former Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter, and the box score would seem to indicate that he dominated the proceedings. In seven innings of work, Carpenter allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out four.
However, the Padres made those two hits count, and the game was tied 2-2 by the time Carpenter departed. This was thanks in large part to a gutsy performance from their own starter, Tim Stauffer, who allowed nine hits and a walk in his six innings of work, yet somehow escaped with just two earned runs allowed.
San Diego's staff also had a banner day against slugging first baseman Albert Pujols, who finished the afternoon 0-5 with three double-play balls. He nearly hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning, but Cameron Maybin was able to snag it on the warning track.
Of course, Maybin was also the very man who rescued the Padres from the brink. Moments after Pujols flew out in that eighth inning, Matt Holliday gave the Cards a 3-2 lead with a home run that just barely cleared the center field wall. Maybin was at the dish against Ryan Franklin with two outs in the ninth, and he hit a long home run to center to tie the game at 3-3.
The Padres were able to scrape across a couple runs in the 11th, and Heath Bell retired the side in order in the bottom of the frame to put the finishing touches on an unlikely 5-3 win.
Like I said, you gotta hand it to them. With Adrian Gonzalez now in Boston, the Bud Black's club is completely devoid of any kind of star power, yet they showed on Thursday that they are still just as resilient as they were in 2010, when they came within a couple games of winning the NL West.
Are the Padres going to be able to keep up with the defending champion Giants in the division? Well, if you had asked me yesterday, I probably would have said no. After today, though, I'm at least open to the idea.
Well played, Padres. Well played indeed.
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