Garrett Richards continued his outstanding work over the first two months of the season, pitching eight strong innings and striking out 10, as the San Diego Padres defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 in the rubber game of a three-game series Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Richards lowered his ERA to 2.37 while picking up his fifth win in six decisions. Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 10th save.
Jurickson Profar provided what proved to be the deciding run with a solo home run in the seventh inning to give San Diego a 3-1 lead. Francisco Mejia drove in the Padres’ first two runs with an RBI single in the second inning and a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
That was enough for Richards, who walked none and pitched around a leadoff triple by the Cardinals’ Tommy Edman in the first. He allowed a home run to Paul DeJong in the fourth and an RBI single to Dexter Fowler in the seventh.
The victory was the fourth for San Diego (17-20) in its last six games and ended a stretch of having played a game for 16 consecutive days. The Padres are off Thursday before opening a series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers this weekend.
