SAN DIEGO – Chris Denorfia doubled in the winning run off hard-throwing rookie Aroldis Chapman with two outs in the ninth inning, giving the San Diego Padres a 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday and a share of the NL West lead with San Francisco.
The Reds' magic number for clinching the NL Central was trimmed to two before the first pitch when the St. Louis Cardinals lost 7-3 at the Chicago Cubs.
Denorfia's shot off Chapman (1-2) went down the line, skipping past the glove of third baseman Scott Rolen and scoring Chase Headley from first. Left fielder Jonny Gomes made a sliding stop in foul territory before it got to the wall, but Headley beat the throw home.
Heath Bell (6-0) pitched the ninth for the win.
San Francisco was playing at Colorado. The Padres retained their half-game lead in the wild-card race over Atlanta, which won 5-0 at Washington.
Miguel Tejada, who hit a go-ahead, two-run single in Friday night's 4-3 Padres win, appeared to hurt himself while batting in the eighth. Trainer Todd Hutcheson and manager Bud Black came out to check on him with a 1-1 count. Tejada singled to left, then was lifted for pinch-runner Everth Cabrera three pitches into Adrian Gonzalez's at-bat.
The Reds left the bases loaded in the fourth, when Jon Garland got Orlando Cabrera to ground out, and in the eighth, when left-hander Joe Thatcher came on for Mike Adams and got pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo to pop up to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez on his second pitch.
Red star Joey Votto returned from a sinus infection that cost him three starts and hit his 36th homer, plus an RBI single. Cincinnati starter Travis Wood doubled and had a run-scoring infield hit.
Drew Stubbs opened the game with a single to left off Garland, stole second and scored on Votto's single to right.
San Diego pushed across two runs in the second and another in the third to take a 3-1 lead. Headley had an RBI single, Nick Hundley added a sacrifice fly and Will Venable led off the third with his 13th homer. Venable's drive reached the sand play area beyond the fence in right-center.
The Reds got those runs back during the next two innings. Brandon Phillips doubled with two outs in the fourth, followed by Ramon Hernandez's single that hit second base umpire CB Bucknor. The ball became dead, which meant Phillips had to hold at third.
Reds manager Dusty Baker came out to argue, then kept yapping from the dugout, drawing a warning from plate umpire Doug Eddings.
Wood followed with an infield single that brought in Phillips. Garland walked Stubbs to load the bases, then got Cabrera to bounce to shortstop to end the inning.
Votto homered to right on Garland's first pitch of the fifth.
Garland, who had lost his last three home starts, allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. He is 1-4 with a 5.00 ERA in his last six starts overall.
Wood went seven innings, yielding six hits and walking one.
NOTES: Jonny Gomes singled with one out in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 10, tying his career high. He also had a 10-game streak April 30-June 22, 2005, while with Tampa Bay. ... The Padres were still talking about Chapman throwing 25 pitches at or above 100 mph on Friday night, including one at 105 and three at 104. "That's as live an arm as I've ever seen," said Padres manager Bud Black, a former big league pitcher. "I've never seen 105, or 104, or 103."
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