ST. LOUIS — The Padres started and finished strong on their longest road trip of the season. They concluded the 10-game, three-city trip Sunday with a 9-2 victory over the Cardinals built mostly in the first four innings.

The St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres are in the fight for the final National League wild- card slot. They are facing each other seven times in a span of 11 days.

The San Diego Padres won their final game of a four-game set against the Wild Card-hopeful St. Louis Cardinals, 9-2. Manny Machado had a 4-for-5 day with three

Michael McGreevy and the Cardinals wrap up a fiery four-game home series vs. the Padres with Sunday's 1:15 p.m. start at Busch Stadium.

St. Louis (54-53) dropped back-to-back games to San Diego (57-49), resulting in a four-game series split after Sunday's 9-2 loss at Busch Stadium.

The Padres scored their final run in the ninth on a double by JOhnson, sacrifice bunt by Martín Maldonado and a grounder by Fernando Tatis Jr. that shortstop Masyn Winn bobbled before throwing to first base for the out.

While the Cardinals pitchers worked around 11 hits to keep the Padres scoreless, the Cardinals' lineup pushed across three runs on five hits, a pair of walks, and a hit

The San Diego Padres dropped their fourth game in a row in a frustrating contest against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday. Right-hander Nick Pivetta plucked Ca