First pitch: Thursday, 7:15 p.m. ET
Line: San Diego +123, St. Louis -133, Total: 7.5

The San Diego Padres begin a 10-game road trip when they head to St. Louis and take on the Cardinals for the first of four contests on Thursday night.

San Diego has had a very disappointing season after all of their big offseason moves and come into this one with losses in five of their last seven games. They were dominated in the last three, all defeats against both Arizona and Seattle as they were outscored 18-4. Their most recent series was just two games against the Mariners, but they were unable to even muster a run and managed a meager three hits in a 7-0 loss on Wednesday. One player whose offensive game has been at its best is 1B Yonder Alonso (.310) who has 10 hits in his last nine games. St. Louis took rare back-to-back losses at home in the past few days as they were outscored 9-2 by the White Sox. They still maintain a solid seven-game lead in the NL Central since they had rattled off six straight victories leading up to the two-game sweep. A rain soaked contest ensued on Wednesday night as the redbirds lost 7-1 and saw the opponents get 12 hits. SS Jhonny Peralta (.301) continued his big season with a 2-for-4 night and but is just 11-for-41 (.268) in the last 10 contests. On the mound for the visiting Padres will be RHP Tyson Ross (5-7, 3.57 ERA) as he attempts to outduel LHP Tim Cooney (0-0, 11.57 ERA) of the host Cardinals. The road has been tough for San Diego as they are 19-21 when away from home as St. Louis is an impressive 29-10 at Busch Stadium. Since the start of the 2013 campaign, the Cardinals hold an 8-5 advantage in this matchup and are 5-2 when at home over that period. The injury report has 3B Will Middlebrooks (Ankle) listed as questionable with OF Wil Myers (Wrist) and 2B Cory Spangenberg (Knee) on the DL while OF Matt Holliday (Quad) and 1B Matt Adams (Quad) are missing from action for St. Louis.

Ross looks well on his way to another impressive season as his ERA could be under 3.60 for the third consecutive year with the Padres as he reaps the benefits of getting half of his starts at PETCO Park. In 2015, the righty has been able to raise his strikeouts to a career-high 9.9 K/9, but has seen his control suffer (4.5 BB/9) as a result. His ability to keep the ball in the park has always been a strength and his 0.28 HR/9 is his best mark since being in San Diego while he keeps the ball on the ground an amazing 62.8% of the time. He has been unfortunate, though, as batters are hitting a bloated .346 BABIP against him while he is coming off his second consecutive win when he was in Arizona last week. He has faced the Cardinals twice in his career, going 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA (1.50 WHIP) and has the same number of strikeouts (9) as walks in the outings. SS Jhonny Peralta (3-for-6), 3B Matt Carpenter (2-for-4, 1 double, 4 walks) and OF Jayson Heyward (2-for-3) have had success against Ross while 2B Kolten Wong and OF Jon Jay are a combined 2-for-10 in the matchup. The Padres relievers have gone 13-11 with a 3.94 ERA (1.28 WHIP) and have successfully saved 20-of-26 (77%) games. Craig Kimbrel (3.41 ERA, 19 saves) has not been as dominant as in past years but has blown just one save and continues to strike out a ton of batters (13.7 K/9).

Cooney will be making just his second career start when he takes the mound on Thursday night and the first one did not go well at all as he lasted a mere 2.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits with three strikeouts against the Phillies. He will earn another attempt as the team believes in the control pitcher who was able to post a 2.74 ERA with great control (1.62 BB/9) in 14 triple-A starts. In that time he did not mow down too many batters (6.4 K/9), but did benefit from the opposition hitting a low .211 BABIP. With such little experience at this level, Cooney has yet to face any of the batters on the Padres, and he will need to be careful against the power-hitting OF Justin Upton (.266) who is in the top-10 in both home runs (14) and stolen bases (15) in the NL. On the other hand, C Derek Norris (.242) has shown power (11 HR), but is striking out in 23.9% of his at-bats. If Cooney has trouble out of the gate once again, he will have the benefit of a bullpen which has gone 14-7 with a 2.15 ERA (1.22 WHIP) and are 31-for-36 (86%) in save opportunities. Trevor Rosenthal (0.51 ERA, 23 saves) has just one blown save on the year while giving up just 23 hits in his 35.1 frames.