Cards continue series with Padres tonight at 6:40pm on 96.3 WTIM.
St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Jon Jay's pinch-hit, two-run double in the
eighth inning helped give the St. Louis Cardinals a 4-3 win over the San Diego
Padres to begin a four-game series.
Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run home run for the Cardinals, who have won their
past two games.
John Lackey pitched seven strong innings, giving up two runs on five hits with
three walks and five strikeouts. Seth Maness (4-2) nabbed the win for tossing
a 1-2-3 eighth.
Jedd Gyorko and Rymer Liriano each drove in a run for the Padres, who had a
five-game winning streak snapped.
Eric Stults had a strong start, allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and
a strikeout over seven innings. Alex Torres (1-1) didn't get an out in the
eighth, however, as he allowed two runs on two hits and a walk.
With the game tied at 2-2, Tony Cruz singled to start the Cardinals' half of
the eighth and Daniel Descalso followed with a walk. Matt Carpenter then
singled to load the bases and the Padres brought in Nick Vincent to relieve
Torres.
With the infield and outfield playing short, Jay lofted a pitch over the head
of center fielder Will Venable for a double and a 4-2 lead.
"As a pinch-hitter you have to be ready to go," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny
said of Jay. "He was ready."
Vincent didn't allow another run to keep the Padres in striking distance.
With Trevor Rosenthal on the mound to close the game for St. Louis, Yasmani
Grandal singled to lead off the ninth. Alexi Amarista later hit a one-out
single and Chris Nelson walked to load the bases.
Jake Goebbert then hit a single to right and Grandal easily scored. Amarista
rounded third in an attempt to tie the game, but Shane Robinson made a strong
throw to home and A.J. Pierzynski made the tag on Amarista.
The play was reviewed to see if Pierzynski did tag Amarista, who tried to
slide around the tag and wound up tapping home plate before home plate umpire
Bob Davidson called him out. The call was upheld.
"These plays come from New York so there was no explanation given to me,"
Padres manager Bud Black said of the play at the plate. "When that play
occurred, you saw two major-league players react to a play that a tag was
missed."
Venable then drew a four-pitch walk, but Rosenthal struck out Tommy Medica to
pick up his 36th save of the season.
Peralta's two-run homer in the second gave the Cardinals the lead, but the
Padres tied the game in the sixth on a run-scoring fielder's choice from
Gyorko and RBI single by Liriano.