After taking two of three in Cincinnati over the weekend, the 35-28 Cardinals will open up a home stand on Monday with the Padres. The Padres enter the series 31-36, winners of six of their last eight games and only 5 1⁄ 2 games out in a National League West division that has been, on the whole, very subpar, considering the teams that call it home. The Brewers and Cubs sit atop the National League Central, with Chicago trailing by half a game as the two clubs open a series tonight. The Cardinals sit three back of division-leading Milwaukee. Barring postseason play, these will be the final games between the Padres and Cardinals in 2018. It will be Jack Flaherty and Jordan Lyles on the bump in Monday’s series opener at 7:15 PM Central time. Flaherty has started seven games for St. Louis, logging 39 1/3 innings. Flaherty has maintained a 3.53 FIP and a 42:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The second start of Flaherty’s big-league career was against the Padres, and he allowed one run over five innings at Petco Park. In the spirit of small sample sizes, Wil Myers, Jose Pirela, and Matt Szczur are all 0-for-2 facing Flaherty. Lyles has allowed 15 earned runs across his last three starts, fueled by the seven walks and four home runs against him in the span. Lyles started against the Cardinals when the two clubs met in San Diego in early May; Lyles fanned six and surrendered one run across five innings in what was eventually a 2-1 win for St. Louis. Lyles’s flyball rate sits at 38 percent, the highest of his career, and his groundball percentage is 43.7, the lowest it has been since he pitched for the Astros in 2011. Miles Mikolas will pitch for the Cardinals on Tuesday, with his first pitch set for 7:15. Mikolas pitched against Lyles in that 2-1 game, one where Mikolas pitched 6 2⁄ 3 frames of one-run ball. Missing seven innings by one out, Mikolas’s streak of logging seven innings (it was at four, entering 5/10) snapped. Mikolas leads the team with a 2.27 ERA and ranks fourth in the National League, trailing Jacob deGrom’s 1.57, Max Scherzer’s 2.00, and Jon Lester’s 2.22. The Padres have not announced who will start on Tuesday. Wednesday’s series finale will feature Luke Weaver and Eric Lauer on the mound at 7:15. Weaver will be looking to pitch beyond the fifth inning in his start, a feat he has not reached since 5/22. Weaver tossed five scoreless innings against the Padres back on 5/11 and has a 3.65 ERA in his last seven starts, dating back to his first start in May.<doc-sep>The more that Cardinals ace Carlos Martinez struggles, the more it seems that it might have been a good idea to take on one more minor-league start as he rehabilitated from a strained lat. In his two games back from the DL, Martinez has lasted a total of 7 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs and walking 12.<doc-sep>For the second time the Padres relief team has put together both a quality start and a quality game. The Friars stitched together a functional piece of the starting rotation using 5 relievers, and evened the series against the Cardinals. The combined effort came from Matt Strahm, Adam Cimber, Craig Stammen, Kirby Yates, and Brad Hand. Cimber was credited with the wind and Hand with the save. Only Stammen would end up giving up a run in his one inning pitched, two of them in the 7th off an RBI-single and RBI-groundout, still striking out 1. Strahm and Cimber ate 6 innings, combining for 7 strikeouts and only one hit off Cimber. The Cardinals would only collect 5 hits and their 2 runs, with Yates and Hand shutting out the Cards for the win. The Friars offense kept the lead through the whole game, starting with an Eric Hosmer solo shot in the top of the 4th, his 9th home run of the season, and a deep shot to center field on a first pitch breaking ball. Two more runs would come in the 4th from a two-run bases loaded RBI single from A.J. Ellis. Cory Spangenberg scored easily from third, but Ellis’ hit was shallow enough to give right fielder Harrison Bader a shot at getting Freddy Galvis coming in from second base. Galvis shot his foot to the front left corner of home plate on the slide and the tag was close enough to coax a challenge from the Cardinals. The safe call for Galvis was upheld, and the Padres were up 3-0. The final Padres run would come in the 7th inning with Christian Villanueva plating Manuel Margot on an RBI-ground out. The Padres were up 4-0 until the bottom of the 7th, and stayed up 4-2 through the rest of the game thanks to a badass bullpen. Tomorrow will go back to a traditional start with Eric Lauer getting the mound with a chance to lead the Padres into another series win.<doc-sep>
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Eric Lauer carried a shutout into the sixth inning, Manuel Margot had three hits and the San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Wednesday night to win their fifth straight series. Freddy Galvis drove in two first-inning runs for San Diego, which has won five of seven. The Padres hadn’t won five consecutive series since 2010. Marcell Ozuna homered for the Cardinals, who have lost three of four. Lauer (3-4) gave up two runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings. He’s 3-0 when getting two or more runs of support. Brad Hand recorded his 21st save in 23 opportunities. He got Jedd Gyorko to ground into a double play after hitting Yadier Molina to start the ninth. St. Louis starter Luke Weaver (3-6) gave up four runs and nine hits over 5 1/3 innings. He has just one win over his last 11 starts. Margot, who singled in the second and fourth, stretched the lead to 3-0 with a run-scoring triple in the sixth. Raffy Lopez followed with a broken-bat single off reliever Austin Gomber for a 4-0 lead. Margot has hit safely in his last six games, going 9 for 20. He had two hits in a 4-2 win Tuesday. San Diego reliever Jose Castillo struck out all four batters he faced after following Lauer. SHARP DEFENSE The Cardinals have not allowed an error in their last six games. It is their longest errorless stretch since Aug. 3-8 last season. TRAINER’S ROOM Padres: C Austin Hedges began a rehab assignment with Class A Lake Elsinore on Tuesday. He went 1 for 2. Hedges was placed on the DL on May 1 with right elbow tendonitis. He has missed 38 games. Cardinals: INF Jose Martinez will be out on paternity leave for the upcoming weekend series against the Chicago Cubs. UP NEXT: Padres: RHP Tyson Ross (5-3, 3.43) will open a four-game series at Atlanta against RHP Anibal Sanchez (2-0, 2.37) on Thursday. The Padres are in 10-3 when Tyson starts and have won the last six. Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (8-1, 2.47) face LHP Jon Lester (7-2, 2.22) in the first of a three-game home series against the Chicago Cubs on Friday. Wacha has won his last eight decisions against the Cubs. —— More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball