SAN DIEGO (AP) — Austin Nola homered, doubled and drove in a career-high six runs, and Tommy Pham and rookie Kim Ha-seong also connected off Adam Wainwright to lead the San Diego Padres to a 13-3 laugher against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.
The Padres beat the Cardinals for the second straight night in their first matchup since San Diego eliminated St. Louis from the playoffs last season.
The Padres are 4-1 since star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and right fielder Wil Myers went on the injured list due to COVID-19, and first baseman Eric Hosmer, infielder-outfielder Jurickson Profar and utilityman Jorge Mateo were sidelined due to contact tracing.
“You just have to deal with the circumstances and we’ve definitely taken hold of that as a team," said Nola, a catcher who has been pressed into duty in the infield. “We know we have to do our job as a team. Nothing really changed as far as the game plan, we really had to stick to what we do best and that's grind out at-bats and play good defense behind our pitchers."
Manager Jayce Tingler said that “in kind of a weird way, there’s some unique things about it. It’s not ideal. The positives are, the five guys that are out, they’re feeling well. We’re having other guys step up. We’ve got pitchers coming up offering to play the outfield, to pinch-hit, anything like that. That room just continues to be tighter and tighter every day. That’s special when you’re trying to build chemistry and things like that.
“We’re a pretty tough group and we’re going to continue to be tough, be resilient and keep moving forward," Tingler said.
Nola hit a three-run homer off Wainwright in the third, an RBI double off Tyler Webb in the sixth and a two-run single off infielder Matt Carpenter, who was summoned to pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh.
Carpenter also pitched the scoreless eighth, allowing a single and hitting a batter.
Padres right-hander Chris Paddack threw well but was on a pitch count and came out after throwing 84 pitches in four innings. He held the Cardinals to one run and three hits, struck out two and waked one. Four Cardinals batters worked Paddack for 29 pitches in the first inning. The tall Texan then needed just 12 pitches to get through a perfect second.
Paddack's only big mistake was allowing a solo homer to Yadier Molina with one out in the fourth, his sixth.
Miguel Diaz (2-0) pitched two innings in relief of Paddack for the win.
Pham, who has struggled offensively this season, hit a two-run homer to deep left field with two outs in the first, his first of the year.
Kim homered to left with one out in the second, his second.
Nola hit a three-run, opposite-field shot into the home run porch in right field with no outs in the third, his first. He missed the first 39 games after breaking a finger during spring training.
“It was a crazy night of baseball," Paddack said. “As a starter you always enjoy having a little run support, especially against Wainwright, who doesn’t really let up six runs very often in his career. It was good that we jumped on them early and we were able to get the win.”
Wainwright (2-4) allowed six runs and eight hits in four innings, struck out two and walked three.
Nolan Arenano and Harrison Bader also homered for the Cardinals. It was Arenado's eighth and Bader's fourth.
UP NEXT:
Cardinals LHP Kwang Hyun Kim (1-0, 2.74) is scheduled to start the series finale Sunday night opposite Padres rookie LHP Ryan Weathers (2-1, 0.81).
