He allowed only one run and hit eight to six innings, but that flight took him to 110 throws and he didn’t knock out in the seventh round. Flaherty left 1-0 behind.
With them spinning in disarray due to novice injuries, Padres used eight archers through eight rounds without running.
Flaherty, who did not score with four goals, surrendered in the first half of the match in the fifth game with a single doubling from Fernando Tates, skipping the braces of third bottom player Tommy Edman and Eric Hosmer twice to the left of center, out of reach of Dylan Carlson.
The Cardinal had a chance to tie or move on to sixth place but Dexter Fowler flew deep into the right midfield after Yadier Molina doubled down to score his 101st post-season goal in 101 post-season matches and Matt Carpenter had walked.
Both teams miss early opportunities
Craig Stamin, Tim Hill, Pierce Johnson, Adrian Morrigon, Austin Adams, Luis Patino, Emilio Pagan and Drew Pomeranz – five right and three left players – gave the first eight to Padres, with Johnson hitting Carlson on a low ball with the rules loaded to finish the third. Flaherty had frozen San Diego’s Trent Gresham in the third strike, with the rules loaded, to finish second Padres.
Flaherty cheered five in the first four rounds in which Padres landed only two hits from the field, singles by Mitch Morland in the second and Will Myers in the fourth. The Myers song followed a ground hit by Moreland and awarded Padres runners with a single on the fourth. Midfielder Harrison Bader, however, backed off to achieve deep leadership success for Austin Nola and second baseman Colten Wong, who was playing on the outside turf, and fired Jake Cronworth.
