Cardinals seek sweep against scuffling Padres

Dominant pitching and offensive production from rookies have been the story through two games of a three-game set between the St. Louis Cardinals and the visiting San Diego Padres.

St. Louis will look to continue those trends on Wednesday afternoon as it searches for a mid-week sweep against the Padres, who have dropped 15 of their last 21 games and sit a game outside of the final National League wild-card spot as the halfway point of the regular season approaches.

The Cardinals' pitching staff has allowed just two runs through two wins over San Diego, while JJ Wetherholt posted three hits and fellow 23-year-old Blaze Jordan had and an RBI in St. Louis' 3-2 victory on Tuesday.

"Right now my swing is pretty short, and I'm trying to drive the ball to all fields," said Wetherholt, who's batting .259 with 10 home runs and 31 RBIs in his debut season. "I was a little pull-heavy to start the year, so I've been really trying to find that backside gap and was able to have a couple nice swings up the middle (on Tuesday)."

Wetherholt has manned the leadoff spot for a St. Louis lineup that has received balanced contributions. The 7-9 batters have accounted for four of the Cardinals' six runs driven in across the first two games of the series.

"It does a ton for us," Wetherholt said. "It relieves the pressure a little bit off the front end to just go up there, work some at bats and get on base for those guys behind us. When the bottom of the order is scoring, we're going to be winning a lot of games. It's been a lot of fun to watch."

On the mound on Wednesday, St. Louis' Kyle Leahy (5-3, 4.64 ERA) will look to snap out of an underwhelming start to June. Leahy, 29, has a 7.00 ERA in his last two outings and hasn't won since May 16. Last time out, the right-hander allowed four runs on eight hits across five innings while striking out five and walking one in a no-decision against the Minnesota Twins on Friday. The Cardinals lost 9-8.

In four career appearances (one start) against San Diego, Leahy has thrown 10 1/3 scoreless innings. On May 10, he went five innings against the Padres, allowing two hits while striking out five and walking four in a no-decision. The Cardinals lost 3-2 in 10 innings.

San Diego, meanwhile, continues to see minimal success at the plate. After mustering just two runs on Tuesday, manager Craig Stammen's club ranks last in the majors in batting average (.216), runs (274) and hits (505).

"It was a tough night," Stammen said. "We missed a couple ABS challenges that nicked the edge, and those are pitches that are tough to hit. There were a lot of empty innings where we just didn't have anything going on."

Stammen hasn't announced a starting pitcher for Wednesday. The Padres have an off day on Thursday before facing the Texas Rangers for three games over the weekend.

--Field Level Media