Cardinals begin series with the Reds tonight at 6:40pm on 96.3 WTIM.

St.  Louis,  MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt  Carpenter went 3-for-4 with a home 
run  and three  RBI and the St. Louis Cardinals hung on to down the San Diego 
Padres, 7-6, in the finale of a four-game series. 

The  Padres  certainly made  things interesting  until the  final out, as they 
worked three walks against Trevor Rosenthal to load the bases in the ninth. 

Rosenthal  was pulled  for  Seth Maness  with one  away,  and Abraham  Almonte 
greeted him with a two-run single to center to pull San Diego within 7-6. 

Matt Adams saved the tying run from scoring with a diving stop of Seth Smith's 
ground  ball to first base. Adams dove to his right and got just enough of the 
ball  to stop it  from going into the outfield, and second baseman Kolten Wong 
gathered it and threw Smith out at first. 

With  the go-ahead run now at second, Maness got Yasmani Grandal to fly out to 
left to secure his second save. 

Adam  Wainwright  (15-8) became  the majors' second  15-game winner by tossing 
seven  solid  innings. He retired  the first 11 batters  he faced but wound up 
allowing four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits. 

Jake Goebbert went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI to pace the Padres, 
who dropped three of four in the series after winning five in a row coming in. 

Goebbert  tripled  into the right-field  corner in the  sixth to knock in Jedd 
Gyorko  and  scored when Wong's  throw to third went  into the seats along the 
third-base side. 

The  play pulled San  Diego within a run after trailing 5-0, but the Cardinals 
got  the  two runs back  in the bottom half  thanks to Carpenter, whose double 
into  the  right-field gap proved to  be the game-winner as both Peter Bourjos 
and Tony Cruz came around to score. 

Odrisamer  Despaigne (3-4)  did not  make it  past the  fourth inning  for San 
Diego, having surrendered five runs on six hits. 

The Cardinals  batted around  against the  rookie hurler  in a four-run first 
frame. Jon Jay stepped up with the bases loaded and drove one through the left 
side  to bring in  a pair, and Bourjos and Cruz each singled in a run with two 
away. 

Carpenter  got just enough of a Despaigne offering to send it over the wall in 
right-center  leading off the second, and it stayed 5-0 until the Padres' bats 
woke up in the fifth. 

Alexi  Amarista  drove in Goebbert  with a single  to center, and Will Venable 
scored when Yangervis Solarte's comebacker caromed off Wainwright's foot.