Padres 4, Cardinals 2
SAN DIEGO -- Will Venable homered, and the San Diego Padres earned a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Petco Park on Monday night.
Jason Marquis (6-2) won his fifth consecutive decision to lead the Padres (21-23) to their third victory in a row.
Marquis allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and four walks in six innings as the Padres won for the 12th time in the last 15 games at Petco. Marquis, who struck out three, also has a 6-2 record against the Cardinals, his former club.
Huston Street retired the side in order in the ninth for his 11th save.
Venable led off the seventh by driving an 0-1 pitch into the seats in left off reliever Mitchell Boggs, who had just returned from a demotion to Triple-A Memphis. Venable's club-leading seventh home run provided San Diego's final run.
The Padres rallied from a 2-1 deficit by scoring two runs with two outs in the sixth. Chris Denorfia singled to center to bring home Carlos Quentin, tying the score. San Diego took a 3-2 lead when St. Louis reliever Fernando Salas hit pinch hitter Jesus Guzman with a pitch, scoring Jedd Gyorko.
Shelby Miller, who entered the game tied with Clayton Kershaw for the National League lead with a 1.40 ERA, gave up three runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. Miller (5-3) struck out five and walked three.
San Diego took a 1-0 lead in the first on Chase Headley's RBI single.
The Cardinals tied it in the second when Headley, a Gold Glove winner last season, bobbled a grounder by Miller with the bases loaded, allowing Yadier Molina to score with two outs.
In the third, Carlos Beltran, who doubled, came home when Allen Craig grounded into a double play for a 2-1 St. Louis lead.
A leadoff triple by Everth Cabrera in the bottom of the inning failed to produce a run, as Miller struck out Venable and Headley and got Quentin to pop out to second.
NOTES: A moment of silence was held before the game for tornado victims in Oklahoma and Texas. ... Cardinals 3B David Freese was a late scratch due to an injury to his right hand. Freese received stitches after getting cut by the cleats of Milwaukee's Norichika Aoki during a rundown in Sunday's game. Freese was available to play Monday, if needed, the Cardinals said. Ty Wigginton replaced Freese in the starting lineup, and he went 0-for-2 with a walk. ... Cabrera, who began the night leading the majors with 18 stolen bases, recorded steals in five consecutive games entering Monday's contest. ... The Padres have 21 home runs in 23 games at Petco Park, three of them coming in Sunday's rout of the Washington Nationals. They didn't hit their 20th Petco home run last year until July 20 in their 49th home game. ... The game drew a paid crowd of 18,763.
