Jon Jay's 2-run double lifts Cardinals over Padres 4-3

ST. LOUIS — Pinch-hitter Jon Jay wasn't choosy when he came up to bat for the Cardinals in the eighth inning.

Jay delivered a two-run double on the first pitch and right fielder Shane Robinson threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth to help St. Louis hold off the San Diego Padres 4-3 Thursday night.

"I was trying to be aggressive," Jay said. "I wanted something over the plate I could handle. I was able to do that."

Jhonny Peralta hit an early two-run homer for the Cardinals, who moved ahead of Pittsburgh into second place in the NL Central. St. Louis remained two games behind division-leading Milwaukee.

San Diego had its five-game winning streak snapped and fell to 16-9 since the All-Star break.

Trailing by two in the ninth, the Padres loaded the bases with one out against closer Trevor Rosenthal. Pinch-hitter Jake Goebbert came through with an RBI single to right, but Alexi Amarista was cut down at home when he tried to score from second.

The replay review lasted 4 minutes, 9 seconds. Padres manager Bud Black then was ejected by plate umpire Bob Davidson for continuing to argue the call.

"You saw two major league players react to a play that indicated that a tag was missed," Black said. "You saw their catcher go back and try to tag our runner because he knew he missed him. You saw our player react knowing that he wasn't tagged. So you saw two experienced major league players react to a play that they both knew wasn't a tag.

"That's what's frustrating to us."

Cardinals catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who entered in the ninth, disagreed.

"I thought I got his arm," Pierzynski said. "I couldn't hear Bob. It was a big play in the game for sure. I couldn't see the umpire who was behind me. You just go. You hope they stay with the call. I think they got it right."

After a four-pitch walk to Will Venable loaded the bases again, Rosenthal struck out Tommy Medica for his 36th save in 40 opportunities.


(bnd.com)