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 started and finished strong on their longest road trip of the season. Hitting and running as if the ground was burning their feet, the Padres concluded the 10-game, three-city trek Sunday with a 9-2 victory over the St.

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

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.

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.

San Diego Padres pitcher Dylan Cease was struck by a 99.6 mph come-backer and evaluated by trainers in a scary moment vs. the New York Mets.

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