(KGTV) – Albert Pujols’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres Tuesday night.
The Padres dropped their second game in a row at Busch Stadium heading into Wednesday’s series finale.
San Diego once again struggled to generate any offense as Cards starter Adam Wainwright blanked the Friars’ hitters through seven full innings.
Wainwright gave up only two hits and struck out 10 on 115 pitches.
To make matters worse, third baseman Manny Machado and manager Bob Melvin were both ejected in the sixth inning for arguing a strike call.
The Padres managed to tie the game at 2 in the eighth inning on Trent Grisham’s two-run home run off reliever Giovanny Gallegos.
In the top of the 10th inning, the Padres nearly scored the go-ahead run on a single by Jurickson Profar, but pinch runner Jose Azocar was thrown out at home plate by left fielder Lars Nootbaar to end the inning.
Tommy Edman began the bottom of the 10th as the automatic runner on second base. He stole third base and then scored well ahead of the throw home after Pujols’ flyout.
Padres closer Taylor Rogers took the loss.
San Diego starter Blake Snell gave up two runs and struck out six in six innings of work.
