SAN DIEGO -- Matt Carpenter laced an RBI triple to break a tie and spark a three-run eighth inning and lift the Cardinals to an 8-5 win over the Padres on Sunday at Petco Park.
Carpenter, who had struck out twice, drove in Matt Adams after his one-out, pinch-hit single, and Randal Grichuk added a two-run double to cap the eighth. St. Louis' late-inning surge for the second straight game gave the Cardinals consecutive wins and a series victory over San Diego.
The Cardinals tied the game at 5 in the sixth on back-to-back home runs by Jedd Gyorko and Aledmys Diaz off reliever Kevin Quackenbush. It was Gyorko's third hit of the afternoon and the second homer in two days for the former Padre. Gyorko fell a double short of the cycle.

"They kept coming back and forcing our hand,'' Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "Then we had the big inning, with the back-to-back homers with Jedd and Diaz, and then our guys just kept coming.''

Four Cardinals relievers picked up after Mike Leake's five-inning stint and didn't allow a run over the final four innings. Kevin Siegrist (3-0) pitched a perfect seventh inning to record the win, and Trevor Rosenthal escaped a jam in the ninth to notch his fifth save.
"It was nice to see the bullpen coming through again," Matheny said.

Christian Bethancourt hit his first home run of the season in the fourth inning for the Padres.
• Green expects struggling Padres' bullpen to turn it around
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Two for one: The Cardinals struck first, scoring two runs in the first inning. Grichuk and Yadier Molina each contributed RBI singles. The St. Louis scoring was aided on a passed ball by Bethancourt.

Upton funk:Melvin Upton Jr. singled off the glove of Diaz at shortstop to bring home Jon Jay and give San Diego its first lead of the game, 4-3, in the fifth. Upton later scored on Alexei Ramirez's single to extend the advantage to 5-3.
"The big picture I look at today is the fight from the position players," Padres manager Andy Green said. "The position players battled all the way to the end, and that's what you want to see."

Myers streaking:Wil Myers singled up the middle in the third to extend his hitting streak to nine games, including every game in the homestand, and later scored on Upton's groundout, which tied the game at 2.

Bethancourt's bomb: Bethancourt drilled a 1-2 pitch from Leake into the Padres' bullpen beyond the center-field wall to even the score at 3 in the fourth.
QUOTABLE
"It was nice to stick it to the team that you were with before.'' -- Matheny, on what ex-Padre Gyorko's big series meant to him
UPTON EJECTED
In the seventh, Upton was ejected by home-plate umpire Sean Barber for arguing balls and strikes. Upton appeared to take particular exception after a second called strike put him behind 1-2 in the count. After swinging and missing at strike three, Upton remained near home plate and argued with Barber, who tossed Upton from the game. Travis Jankowski replaced Upton in left field.
"You just go back to [Molina] -- he frames well," Green said. "What that lends itself to is sometimes expanding the east-to-west zone. I'd have to look at film to see how much that occurred, but our guys weren't thrilled with the strike zone."

WHAT'S NEXT
Cardinals: St. Louis continues its swing through the National League West as it visits Arizona for a four-game series with the Diamondbacks starting on Monday at 8:40 p.m. CT. Jaime Garcia (1-1, 2.70) draws scuffling Arizona ace Zack Greinke (1-2, 5.25) in the opener.
Padres: San Diego hits the road for a seven-game trip against NL West opponents, starting with the series opener on Monday in San Francisco against Giants ace Madison Bumgarner (1-2, 3.91) at 7:15 p.m. PT. Drew Pomeranz (2-1, 2.04) looks to follow up a stellar outing in his last start, in which he struck out 10 over 6 2/3 innings while allowing one unearned run.
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