Craig Stammen saw something in the at-bats of Fernando Tatis Jr. Friday night that no one else did.
The first-year manager of the San Diego Padres liked Tatis’ approach, even as he was going 0-for-2 with a walk as his team was being one-hit by the St. Louis Cardinals in a 6-0 shutout. So Stammen moved Tatis back to the No. 2 spot and was rewarded with a two-run single that made the difference in a 4-2 win Saturday.
Perhaps ready to make his normal sizable offensive contributions again, Tatis will aim to help San Diego salvage a split of its four-game series with St. Louis when the teams meet on Sunday.
Tatis still is without a homer through the team’s first 39 games, a dry stretch that has some questioning if the team should think of ways to unload him on someone else. But Stammen isn’t ready to answer that $340 million question just yet.
“I feel like he’s making some good decisions at the plate,” Stammen said. “And he’s been working hard in the cage, making some adjustments. And I also think the pitchers fear him, even if he’s not hitting as many home runs as we expect.”
Tatis is batting just .248 with 15 RBIs and a team-high nine steals in 12 attempts. The National League’s 2021 home run champion with 42, Tatis averaged more than 25 homers in his first six MLB seasons.
While Tatis and the Padres’ offense, which has just 10 hits in the series, try to put more barrels on balls, right-hander Walker Buehler (2-2, 5.64) aims for his second straight win. He earned a 10-5 decision in San Francisco Tuesday night, yielding four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings with no walks and five strikeouts.
Lifetime, Buehler is 3-0 with a 3.90 ERA in five career starts against the Cardinals, striking out 35 batters in 30 innings.
St. Louis counters with right-hander Kyle Leahy (4-3, 4.93), who last pitched Monday night and beat Milwaukee 6-3. Leahy scattered six hits over 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run while walking two and striking out five.
Leahy, who’s fired 5 1/3 scoreless innings in three career appearances against San Diego, has had multiple outings this year in which he found trouble after five innings. Eight of the 10 batters he’s faced in the sixth inning have reached and five have scored.
“It still comes down to execution and then the physical piece of everything and just getting over that hurdle,” he said.
The Cardinals saw a six-game road winning streak end Saturday but put up a good fight, even when facing Mason Miller. They loaded the bases in the ninth on two walks and a wild pitch on strike three to Yohel Pozo before Miller slipped a 101 mph fastball by JJ Wetherholt for a called third strike.
The hottest bat lately has been Ivan Herrera, who followed up a four-hit game on Friday night with two more on Saturday. That included an RBI double in the eighth that got St. Louis within 3-2, upping his average to .270.
–Field Level Media
