The Dylan Cease who is staying was better than the one who was going.
The Padres’ offense sputtered a bit at the start before getting the big hit it needed and then getting a few more.
Their augmented bullpen did its job almost as prescribed and eventually to the end.
It was a little more complicated than it needed to be, but the Padres eventually beat the Cardinals 7-3 on Sunday to win their first series after the trade deadline, finish off a winning homestand and show what they can be.
The Padres’ refurbished lineup, with all three position players acquired at the trade deadline batting in the bottom half, got contributions from new and old places.
“Everybody is clicking right away,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “We’re playing good baseball.”
Jake Cronenworth’s two-run homer in the fourth inning was the first blow for the Padres. Jackson Merrill’s bases-loaded triple in the seventh made it a rout. New left fielder Ramón Laureano completed their scoring with a home run in the eighth.
Eight different Padres got hits. New catcher Freddy Fermin got two. Ryan O’Hearn, who started at first base, got his first hit with the Padres. Everyone in the starting lineup reached base safely. Six players scored at least once. Four drove in runs.
“We have an opportunity to do damage every single inning,” Merrill said. “It doesn’t matter where we are in the lineup. So that’s pretty exciting.”
The Cardinals got one hit in the first inning off Cease, who the Padres kept at Thursday’s trade deadline after listening to offers for the right-hander practically up until the last minute, and then did not get another hit until the ninth.
That is when they scored their three runs against Adrian Morejón.
The only thing more that really could have been asked of Cease (4-10, 4.60) was that he not take 90 pitches to get through five innings. But after a 28-pitch first inning, he retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced. And the only Cardinal to get on did so because his awkward swing on a two-strike pitch hit Fermin’s glove.
“I really just want to contribute, and I want to win, so that’s all I’m so I’m focused on right now,” Cease said. “I’m excited. … We have a great team. We feel good about ourselves, and I want to be a part of it.”
This version of Cease, who allowed one single and struck out nine while getting his first win in seven starts, can be a big part of things for the Padres.
“Today was awesome,” Cronenworth said. “That was the Dylan I know. For him to bridge it to the bullpen with guys we have, that’s what it’s all about.”
On Sunday, it was usual eighth-inning reliever Jason Adam who replaced Cease and worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning before Jeremiah Estrada struck out all three batters he faced in the seventh.
Newly acquired Mason Miller was getting ready to pitch the eighth inning but sat down after Merrill’s triple.
David Morgan walked the first batter he faced in the eighth before striking out the next three.
Morejón, who had not pitched since Tuesday, came in ostensibly to get some work and ended up making more work for the Padres.
Two singles and a walk loaded the bases. Two more singles brought in two runs.
Suddenly, it was a save situation.
Manager Mike Shildt went to Robert Suarez, who got a strikeout, a sacrifice fly and allowed a single that re-loaded the bases before sticking out his glove to catch a line drive and end the game.
So it turned out to be a really good turn of events that the Padres’ offense caught fire after playing with fire for the first three innings.
The Padres’ first two batters reached base in the first inning. But Tatis was caught stealing and Manny Machado put himself in a hole fouling off a bunt at the start of a three-pitch strikeout, so any chance at a run fizzled before it started.
They got a little luck with a single lost in the sun to start the second and then a little more luck with an error with no outs and still did not score.
They got closer to scoring in the third but left the bases loaded without doing so.
“We just couldn’t quite get them to cave early on,” Shildt said. “And finally, we knocked the door down a little bit and went from there.”
The surge began when Cronenworth followed Laureano’s one-out infield single with a 398-foot blast to right-center field.
A four-run seventh inning began with Fermin grounding a single through the right side and Tatis moving him to third base with a double. After a fly ball out to shallow center field by Luis Arraez, Manny Machado walked and Merrill grounded the first pitch he saw from Gordon Graceffo just inside first base and to the right field corner to clear the bases. Merrill scored on a sacrifice fly by Xander Bogaerts.
Laureano led off the eighth inning with a home run.
“It was almost an unblemished game,” Shildt said. “Little hiccup in the ninth. But, yeah, everything on display today.”
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