Cameron Maybin shines as San Diego Padres defeat St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 – MLB Update
With the last hitter on the plate, the San Diego Padres acquired a game tying grand slam from Cameron Maybin to force extra innings against St. Louis Cardinals, for a 5-3 victory at Busch Stadium, St. Louis on Thursday, March 31.
In National League competition between the Padres and the Cardinals took a dramatic change in last phase when San Diego bounced back after a one run deficit and altered the result to their name. The Padres played hard and dominated in the end.
Surprise was obvious as the Cardinals shined right from the start acquiring an early lead in first inning with Matt Holliday’s single to centre-field. Cardinals acquired their second run in the fourth inning making it a 2-1 lead, but failed to carry the
momentum they started with.
Cardinals’ starter Chris Carpenter, making his fifth opening day start, tightened the pitching for the opposition with his strong throws. The right-hand pitcher, who has 1494 strike-outs with a 3.80 ERA, did not allowed any hit until the fourth inning when
he consumed a run to Will Venable and then in fifth inning awarded a tying double to Nick Hundley.
It happened in dramatic fashion in the eighth inning when Matt Holliday launched a grand slam off Padres’ reliever Mike Adams. With just an inning away from defeat, the Padres bounced back with Maybin’s splendid homer on a line drive to centre-field forcing
the game to another inning.
The game surprisingly turned when Cardinals’ short-stop Ryan Theriot had a fielding error and the Padres won the game two runs ahead. Ryan provided a chance to Maybin, who again came into action with the final run on a ground ball to right-fielder Jon Jay.
"You always want to be on your toes and see where the runner is," Theriot said. "It kicked away from me a little bit and the guy was able to score. It's a heads-up base running play."
Maybin’s homer came off Cardinals’ reliever Ryan Franklin who was not bad at his earlier outings during spring training. He proved himself as the right choice for becoming the Cardinals’ closer this spring allowing just one run through seven innings. "A
guy like him, he definitely likes to get ahead," Maybin said. "It was probably his version of a get-me-over pitch."
Cardinals’ star Albert Pujols might be playing his last season with club, as he had his career-worst game going none in five at-bats.
The Padres put in a tremendous effort as they managed to fight their way back into the game. The Cardinals will be disappointed that they were unable to close the game and take the victory.
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