SAN DIEGO _ As much as the St. Louis Cardinals have relied on talent sprouting from Memphis and carrying the tune of that successful Class AAA affiliate to the majors, they still need the players they planned to lead them to October to, well, lead them to October.
When Stephen Piscotty returned from his tuneup in the minors, he spoke, candidly, about not being able to salvage his batting average and not having the kind of statistical season he or the team expected coming into the season.
"But if I can get hot," he said.
That would give his season a different sheen.
Getting warm might be enough.
Piscotty continued what's been a steady revival of his swing in the past week with a two-run homer that helped the Cardinals flip the game on San Diego and put them in position to sweep a four-game series this week at Petco Park. Piscotty's ninth home run of the season coupled with five solid innings from rookie Jack Flaherty fed a 3-1 victory late Wednesday against the San Diego Padres. The win vaulted the Cardinals ahead of Milwaukee in both the division and wild-card race. The Colorado Rockies' loss earlier in the day meant the Cardinals, less than eight days removed from a .500 record, are two games out of a playoff berth.
The Rockies hold the NL's second wild card.
The Cardinals have won four consecutive, six of their past seven, and with a win Thursday night would finish this three-city, 10-game trip with an 8-2 record _ and a chance.
Padres rookie Dinleson Lamet held the Cardinals to one hit through his first five innings and did not allow a Cardinal to reach second safely. The righthander didn't get an out in the sixth inning. Jose Martinez, a fixture this week at cleanup, opened the inning with a single, and Piscotty followed by drilling a 94-mph fastball into the left-field seats. The Cardinals added a run thanks to an error and sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to set the final score.
A few hours after acquiring Juan Nicasio to fortify the bullpen, the Cardinals' relievers threw four scoreless innings. Ryan Sherriff handled the two immediately after Flaherty, buying time for the rally and earning his first major-league win.
The first two batters of the ninth singled against Tyler Lyons and brought the winning run to the plate, but all that turned out be was cosmetic. Lyons struck out two and secured his second save.
As the Cardinals ease Flaherty into the rotation _ and keep a quiet governor on his workload at the same time _ he's made two starts in his native California and improved with each passing inning. His first start, in San Francisco, mushroomed on him in the second inning and that included a home run that he wasn't quick to overcome. As he entered his fourth inning of work Wednesday night against San Diego, another home run put a welt on his line.
But he didn't let it linger.
In the fourth inning, Padres infielder Yangervis Solarte hit a high, soaring home run into the right-field seats for a 1-0 lead. The lofting shot came on an 87-mph changeup and gave Solarte a new career high with 16 this season. It did not, however, lead to anything more against Flaherty. The rookie righthander got a deep fly ball from the next batter and had to maneuver around a walk, which he did with a key strikeout of Erick Aybar. Flaherty caught Aybar looking at a curveball. That was his first strikeout of the game.
Two of his next three also came on off-speed pitches, but different ones.
Wil Myers fished for a slider to strike out in the fifth inning, and Jose Pirela, the Padres' No. 3 hitter, took a full-count 85-mph changeup for a called strike 3. That was Flaherty's final pitch in his five innings, and it showed the variety he had to offer hitters. Both Myers and Pirela were facing Flaherty for the third time in the game. Both had been on base via walk earlier in the game. Both saw something new from the rookie.
The start threatened to go sideways on Flaherty in the third as he hit the turn of the lineup the first time through. Lamet, answering Flaherty zero for zero to start the game, flipped a single to right field. A single by leadoff hitter Carlos Asuaje followed. And by the time Pirela came up the Padres had the bases loaded and only one out. Pirela took a fastball out of the zone and then jumped the first off-speed pitch he saw. He yanked it down the line, and that was where third baseman Alex Mejia was able to snag it, touch third, and then throw across the diamond for the inning-ending, run-saving double play.
That play came just as Aledmys Diaz's two-homer playoff game was coming to an end with Class AAA Memphis. The Cardinals dispatched their All-Star infielder during the middle of the season and twice in the past week have chosen another Redbird infielder for a promotion ahead of him. At first it was Mejia and then on Tuesday switch-hitter Breyvic Valera. The reason for Valera, the Cardinals said, was his switch-hitting with lefthanded batters Kolten Wong (back) and Matt Carpenter (shoulder) unavailable. The reason for Mejia was a strong finish _ and a glove.
In a series of plays at third base Tuesday, Mejia helped Michael Wacha and others through several innings, and he robbed at least one hit. The double play Wednesday loosed Flaherty from the trickiest inning he faced.
Lamet had an edge not uncommon to rookie pitchers facing the Cardinals, though usually it's a lefty that ties them in knots. The 25-year-old righthander made his 18th start of the season for San Diego, and he faced a lineup that had to feel somewhat familiar _ populated as it was with seven Cardinals who at some point since the start of spring training had been optioned to a minor-league team. Six of the Cardinals' nine starters had appeared extensively for Class AAA Memphis at some point this season. One of those players, Harrison Bader, dropped out of the leadoff spot to No. 2 to make way for Dexter Fowler's return and moved to left field to make room for Fowler in center. Bader had the only hit off Lamet for the first six innings of the game.
Bader's first-inning single was it.
Three times the Cardinals got a walk from Lamet in the first five innings, but not one of those walks or Bader's single resulted in a Cardinal getting to second base. Lamet had surprise on his side and it took three times through the lineup for them to get a feel. Even then, Lamet opened the sixth inning with back-to-back strikeouts of Fowler and Bader. At one point, Lamet struck out five Cardinals in a nine-batter stretch.
