FINAL May 7, 2026
May 7, 2026 · NL West

St. Louis Cardinals vs San Diego Padres

May 7, 2026Petco ParkPartly Cloudy 64°F · 7 mph, L To R
AWAY
St. Louis Cardinals
22-15
2
vs
HOME
San Diego Padres
22-15
1

Starting pitchers

AWAY · STL
Matthew Liberatore
Matthew Liberatore
IP 6
HOME · SD
Michael King
Michael King
IP 6

Lineups

AWAY · STL
  1. 1 JJ Wetherholt 2B
  2. 2 Iván Herrera DH
  3. 3 Alec Burleson 1B
  4. 4 Jordan Walker RF
  5. 5 Nolan Gorman 3B
  6. 6 Masyn Winn SS
  7. 7 Nathan Church LF
  8. 8 Pedro Pagés C
  9. 9 Victor Scott II CF
HOME · SD
  1. 1 Jackson Merrill CF
  2. 2 Miguel Andujar DH
  3. 3 Manny Machado 3B
  4. 4 Fernando Tatis Jr. 2B
  5. 5 Xander Bogaerts SS
  6. 6 Ramón Laureano LF
  7. 7 Ty France 1B
  8. 8 Nick Castellanos RF
  9. 9 Rodolfo Durán C

Box score

  123456789 R
STL 000100100 2
SD 100000000 1

Manager comparison

Both managers grade B- / B entering this matchup.

AWAY · STL
Oliver Marmol
B- Lineup 1.2 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.3 R
HOME · SD
Craig Stammen
B Lineup 0.8 R Bunts 0.4 R IBBs 0.2 R

Recent form

AWAY · STL
7-2 W1 +13 run diff
WL?WLWWWWW
HOME · SD
4-6 L1 -6 run diff
LWWLWLLLLW

Season series: 1-0 with STL listed first across 1 prior meeting.

Tactical analysis

RunsLeft separates manager decisions from player execution from game variance. Each card below is the same three-number framework that drives the share cards on the SPA replay page.

AWAY · St. Louis Cardinals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.06 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.19 vs actual lineup 3.14
  • Player execution −1.14 R/G Players fell 1.14 short of the lineup's 3.14 projection (scored 2)
  • Game variance −1.19 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Herrera 0-for-3 batting 2nd

HOME · San Diego Padres
  • Manager lineup cost −0.02 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.94 vs actual lineup 3.96
  • Player execution −2.96 R/G Players fell 2.96 short of the lineup's 3.96 projection (scored 1)
  • Game variance −2.94 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Merrill 0-for-3 batting 1st

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 3.2 – 3.9 — actual was 2 – 1.

GAME INSIGHTS
  • Iván Herrera reaches base in 23 consecutive games
    Iván Herrera (STL) has reached base safely in 23 straight games — past the 20-game watermark.
  • Craig Stammen (SD) has run 25 distinct starting lineups across 30 games this season — that's 83% turnover game-to-game. Most managers stay below 14 for the same span.
  • Oliver Marmol (STL) has run 20 distinct starting lineups across 29 games this season — that's 69% turnover game-to-game. Most managers stay below 13 for the same span.

Keep reading

How RunsLeft analyzes games

Standard content on this page comes from the MLB Stats API. Tactical analysis comes from a per-game Monte Carlo: 10,000 simulated games against the opposing starter's ERA, both for the actual lineup the manager wrote and for the optimal arrangement of those nine players. The three numbers — manager cost, player execution, game variance — separate which part of the result was the lineup, the players, or the dice.

Read the full methodology.