Manny Machado knocks in 3, leads Padres past Cardinals

Manny Machado hit a two-run homer and an RBI double to power the visiting San Diego Padres past the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4 on Monday.

Jackson Merrill also had two hits and knocked in three runs for the Padres, who won for the third time in four games.

Recalled from Triple-A El Paso earlier in the day, Padres starter Randy Vasquez (4-6) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Alec Burleson went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Masyn Winn finished 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs for the Cardinals.

St. Louis starting pitcher Kyle Gibson (7-6) allowed seven runs on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out two.

San Diego took a 2-0 first-inning lead when Jake Cronenworth was hit by a pitch and Machado followed with his 21st home run of the year.

The Cardinals cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second inning. Brendan Donovan hit a one-out triple and scored on Paul Goldschmidt’s single.

The Padres increased their lead to 4-1 in the third inning. Luis Arraez hit a leadoff single and Jurickson Profar walked. Both runners advanced on a flyout and later scored on Merrill’s two-out single.

Vasquez worked out of trouble in the bottom of the inning. After walking Winn and allowing Burleson’s single, Vasquez got Nolan Arenado to fly out and Lars Nootbaar to ground into a double play.

St. Louis cut the deficit to 4-2 in the fourth inning. Ivan Herrera walked, went to third on Donovan’s single and scored two batters later on Matt Carpenter’s sacrifice fly.

However, the Padres added on in the fifth. Profar walked, Cronenworth hit a single, Machado hit an RBI double, and Xander Bogaerts lofted a sacrifice fly to finish Gibson’s night.

Merrill greeted Matthew Liberatore with an RBI single to make it 7-2.

The Cardinals edged a run closer in the seventh on two-out doubles by Winn and Burleson, then made it 7-4 in the ninth on an RBI single by Burleson.

–Field Level Media