Padres at Cardinals
Jedd Gyorko loves seeing his former team as the opponent and looks to continue inflicting damage when his St. Louis Cardinals host the San Diego Padres on Tuesday for the middle contest of their three-game series. Gyorko ended a 27-game home-run drought by going deep in Monday's 5-2 victory for his ninth blast in 13 career games against the Padres.
Gyorko, who played for San Diego from 2013-15, is a stellar 23-for-49 against his former club after helping the Cardinals win for the fourth time in five games. Marcell Ozuna and Jose Martinez also homered in the opener, with the latter's blast being his fifth in five games and his three-hit effort being his sixth multi-hit performance in his last seven contests. San Diego recorded just four hits in the opener while losing for just the fourth time in 13 games. Cory Spangenberg continued his recent solid hitting with a solo homer as he is 8-for-24 with three blasts and six RBIs over his last seven contests.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, FS San Diego, FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Padres LH Matt Strahm (1-2, 3.07 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Miles Mikolas (7-1, 2.27)
Strahm will be the first reliever on the mound for the third time this season as San Diego once again goes with a "bullpen game" instead of recalling someone to fill the rotation spot of the injured Joey Lucchesi. "We weren't trying to make this happen, but it's a product of our environment," Padres manager Andy Green told reporters. "It makes sense for us to continue on this path at least for the foreseeable future, but you can't even call it a path because anything could happen at any moment that forces you to deviate." The 26-year-old Strahm is holding batters to a .192 average but has more walks (nine) than strikeouts (eight) in his 14 2/3 innings.
Mikolas first reached the majors with San Diego in 2012 and made 27 relief appearances in parts of two seasons with the club. The 29-year-old faced the Padres for the first time in his career on May 10, when he gave up one run and five hits over 6 2/3 innings of a win in San Diego. Mikolas suffered his first defeat of the season on June 1 against Pittsburgh but rebounded to beat Miami six days later as he allowed one unearned run and three hits over seven frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Cardinals have won 46 of their last 62 home games against the Padres.
2. Ozuna is 15-for-38 with four homers and 11 RBIs this month.
3. San Diego C Austin Hedges (elbow) is slated to begin a rehab assignment with Single-A Lake Elsinore on Tuesday.