Rich Hill returns to Padres rotation to face Cardinals

Veteran lefty Rich Hill has rejoined the San Diego Padres‘Rotation with Yu Darvish on the 15-day disabled list due to elbow inflammation.

Hill will try to take advantage of his second opportunity as parents starting Wednesday when he faces the cardinals in the final of a three-game series in St. Louis.

He parents won 4-1 on Monday and the cardinals prevailed 6-5 in 10 innings on Tuesday.

After arriving from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a trade before the deadline, Hill went 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts and one relief appearance for San Diego.

In his last start, a 3-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at home on August 17, Hill allowed those three runs on a two-run home run by Tommy Pham and a solo shot by Gabriel Moreno.

“I thought Rich pitched very well.” parents said manager Bob Melvin. “Walk a guy, probably throws one bad pitch the whole game, ends up being two runs. He only allows two hits in five innings. He pitched great.

“It’s not like Rich made it out of the rotation. He pitched well.”

Moreno’s home run traveled just 329 feet down the right-field line and would have left only one major league ballpark besides Petco Park.

“Whether it should have been turned off or not, it was turned off anyway,” Hill said. “It’s a frustrating loss, because this is a team we have to beat and it’s the deciding moment. Once again, it falls on me.”

Melvin skipped Hill in the last at-bat of the rotation, then reinserted him to replace the injured Darvish. He parents he called up right-hander Matt Waldron from Triple-A El Paso to take Darvish’s place on the roster and serve in long relief.

Hill (7-13, 5.21 ERA) earned a 2-1 victory over the cardinals on June 4 as a Pirate. He allowed one run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings.

He is 5-2 with a 4.09 ERA in 11 career appearances (10 starts) against the cardinals.

He cardinals They have lost 10 of their last 13 games. Starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (6-10, 4.66) will be looking for his first win since July 17.

Mikolas suffered a 7-2 loss at Philadelphia in his last start, giving up five runs and eight hits in six innings Friday.

“He was higher up than he would have liked and that caused hard contact.” cardinals said manager Oliver Marble. “The first couple of runs down the third-base line struggled, but I felt like he hit the zone enough. But the pitches were high and some of them were hit pretty hard.”

That key hit was Garrett Stubbs’ two-run double into the opposite field in the second. He rolled down the left field line with the infield shifted the other way.

“I made some bad pitches,” Mikolas said. “They scored half their runs when I took a decent full-count pitch and they squibbed down the line. I mean, there’s not much you can do about it. There are a few other pitches I’d like to get back.”

Mikolas is 2-2 with a 2.08 ERA in five starts against the parents, his original team. He appeared in 27 games in relief for San Diego in 2012-13.

He cardinals I hope to have closer Ryan Helsley (forearm strain) back from the disabled list for this game.

—Field-level media