Joe Musgrove held St. Louis to one run on five hits over six innings as the San Diego Padres defeated the visiting Cardinals 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon.
Musgrove (1-1) struck out seven and walked one. He rebounded nicely from his first two starts this season, when he allowed nine runs on 15 hits in 8 1/3 innings.
Tom Cosgrove pitched a scoreless seventh inning, Wandy Peralta allowed an unearned run in the eighth and Robert Suarez got the last five outs to earn his third save of the season.
San Diego pitchers hit four Cardinals batters and walked four, but they also induced four double-play grounders.
Kyle Higashioka hit a solo homer for the Padres to produce the decisive run.
St. Louis starter Zack Thompson (0-2) allowed three runs on five hits and four walks over five innings. He fanned five.
Control issues cost Thompson in the first inning. After Xander Bogaerts led off with a single and stole second base, Thompson walked Fernando Tatis Jr.
The next two batters flied out, but Thompson walked Ha-Seong Kim and Jurickson Profar to force in a run and hand San Diego a 1-0 lead.
The Padres made it 2-0 in the second inning. Jose Azocar hit a leadoff single, raced to third on Bogaerts’ one-out single and scored when Tatis grounded into a forceout.
The Cardinals cut their deficit to 2-1 in the fourth inning when Willson Contreras hit a two-out double and scored on Nolan Arenado’s single.
Higashioka’s homer in the bottom of the inning upped San Diego’s lead to 3-1.
Peralta hit the first two batters he faced in the eighth inning, Victor Scott II and Brendan Donovan. Paul Goldschmidt grounded into a forceout, but Bogaerts’ throwing error allowed Scott to score and Goldschmidt to reach second base.
Suarez relieved Peralta and walked Contreras before getting Arenado to ground into a double play to end the threat.
The Cardinals threatened in the ninth inning, as Ivan Herrera hit a one-out single and Brandon Crawford walked. But Suarez struck out Alec Burleson and Scott to close out the game.
–Field Level Media