San Diego, CA – Cameron Maybin went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and the San Diego Padres crushed the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-3, in the opener of a three-game series at Petco Park.
Maybin also scored three times, while Chris Denorfia had four hits and a pair of RBI. Will Venable added a two-run single and had three RBI, and Logan Forsythe went 3-for-6 with an RBI and finished a home run short of the cycle for the Padres, who have won five of their last six games.
Eric Stults (6-2) allowed three runs on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings to notch his fifth consecutive positive decision.
Peter Kozma stroked a two-run triple and Allen Craig added an RBI single for the Cardinals, who fell for the fourth time in their last five games.
Jaime Garcia (4-7) lasted just three innings and allowed four runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. He has lost five of his last six starts.
"I didn't get the job done. I left the ball up and didn't execute," Garcia said.
The Cardinals jumped on top early, plating a pair of runs in the second inning on Kozma's two-run triple.
The Padres answered with two runs in the home portion of the inning to tie the game. Maybin got the rally started with a leadoff single and Everth Cabrera followed with a base hit. Stults bunted into a double play, but Denorfia smoked a single to center, scoring Cabrera, and Forsythe followed with a double to bring home Denorfia.
"I like the fact that we came right back. I thought that was great," Padres manager Bud Black said.
Maybin gave the Padres the lead in the third when he crushed a fastball from Garcia deep and over the wall in center field for a two-run shot and a 4-2 San Diego lead.
Denorfia began the Padres' fourth with a double and scored on a two-out base hit by Jesus Guzman. Yasmani Grandal worked a walk and Yonder Alonso plated Guzman with a single up the middle, extending the lead to 6-2.
Craig pulled the Cards within three on an RBI base hit in the sixth, and the defending champs loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but Padres reliever Dale Thayer got Matt Holliday to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
San Diego tacked on two more runs in the seventh. Maybin beat a throw home on a contact play with one out in the inning, and Denorfia ripped a hard ground ball to third, which David Freese air-mailed to first, allowing Venable to score for an 8-3 lead.
Venable smoked a two-run single and Denorfia capped the blowout with an RBI base hit in the eighth.
Game Notes
The Padres improved to 36-34 at home this season ... San Diego is 6-1 in games started by Stults this season ... The Padres went 6-for-20 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base, while St. Louis went 3-for-11 with RISP and stranded eight.
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