Arenado’s 9th-inning single gives Cardinals a 4-3 win over Padres

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nolan Arenado drove in Masyn Winn with two outs in the ninth inning on Wednesday night, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 walk-off victory over the San Diego Padres.

“I shortened up. I didn’t try to do too much there,” Arenado said. “I got rewarded for that, so that was nice.”

Winn reached on a single off Robert Suarez (8-2), who came in to pitch the ninth. Rookie Victor Scott II kept the inning alive when he singled Winn to second, before Arenado — who is 13 for 43 in the past 11 games — singled to center. It was his 11th career walk-off RBI and third with St. Louis.

“At the end of the day, it started with Masyn,” Arenado said. “And Victor. Those guys just had great at-bats. It’s about time I picked up the slack a little bit. These young guys did such a great job today.”

Ryan Helsley (6-4) pitched one inning for the win.

San Diego’s Luis Arraez, who had three hits Tuesday, hit two doubles and two singles in five at-bats. It was his major league-leading sixth four-hit game this season. Manny Machado added two hits and an RBI and he is now hitting .357 (10 for 28) in his last seven games.

Paul Goldschmidt hit three singles and drove in a run for St. Louis and now has seven hits in 11 at-bats in the series.

“He’s looking better in each at-bat,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said about Goldschmidt. “That’s highly encouraging as well.”

Helsley gave up a leadoff double to Arraez, who was lifted for a pinch runner. Tyler Wade moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, but Helsley struck out Jake Cronenworth and Machado to keep the game tied.

Andre Pallante held the Padres to two runs on eight hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. He threw two wild pitches. In his last four outings, Pallante has allowed just six earned runs on 20 hits in 25 1/3 innings.

“I just tried to make good pitches,” Pallante said. “They weren’t great pitches, but they were good pitches.”

Joe Musgrove went six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and one walk.

Kyle Higashioka tied it 3-3 when he hit his 16th homer in the eighth.

A three-run fourth gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead. Lucan Baker and Goldschmidt drove in runs in the inning.

“They made the adjustments before I did,” Musgrove said. “That’s a dangerous lineup. Not having a good curveball was a detriment to me.”

The Padres jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on three singles, including one by Machado, who has six RBIs in his last six games. Cronenworth stole home, making him the 20th player in the majors to steal home this year.

“We had some opportunties,” said San Diego manager Mike Shildt, whose club left 10 runners on base. “It was one of those games. The guys played their hearts out. Pallante was able to dodge some bullets.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: LHP Wandy Peralta (left adductor strain) struck out a batter and walked a batter over 1 1/3 scoreless innings on Tuesday night for low Single-A Lake Elisnore.

Cardinals: 3B Nolan Arenado returned to the lineup Wednesday after getting a day off Tuesday. He did pinch hit in the ninth inning of the 7-5 loss to the Padres.

Padres: RHP Michael King (11-7, 3.14) has posted a 2.29 ERA and only allowed two home runs since the All-Star Break.

Cardinals: RHP Sonny Gray (11-9, 4.07) has a 5.83 ERA and has allowed a home run in seven of his last nine starts since the beginning of July.

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