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Kim homers, Padres beat Cards 5-0 to clinch winning record

Albert Pujols had two of the hits, both singles, as he remained stuck on 698 career homers.
Credit: AP
San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado, left, jokes with St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols after the Padres' 5-0 win in a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

SAN DIEGO — Tuesday’s Game Report: Padres 5, Cardinals 0

The Cardinals took their offensive struggles with them to California.

They managed only five hits and were shut out for the second consecutive game Tuesday night in losing the series opener to the Padres in San Diego.

Albert Pujols had two of the hits, both singles, as he remained stuck on 698 career homers.

The only run the Cardinals have scored in their last 34 innings came in the 11th inning on Saturday night when they began the inning with a runner on second base.

Despite the loss the Cardinals’ magic number to clinch the NL Central fell to six when the Brewers lost to the Mets for the second night in a row.

Here is how the game broke down:

At the plate: The first hit for the Cardinals was a single by Pujols leading off the fifth. He also singled with two outs in the ninth … Alec Burleson followed the single in the fifth with another single, but Yadier Molina grounded into a double play and Lars Nootbaar grounded out … Their other hits were a two-out double by Paul Goldschmidt in the sixth and a one-out single by Nolan Arenado in the ninth … The double was the 40th of the season for Goldschmidt … The Cardinals were 0-of-4 with a runner in scoring position and in those last 34 innings are just 1-of-18 with a runner on second or third base.

On the mound: Adam Wainwright allowed four runs over his six innings of work, including two in the first inning. It was his first loss in four September starts but his ERA for the month is 5.57, allowing 13 earned runs over 21 innings … The Padres scored their final fun off Packy Naughton in the seventh.

Key stat: Goldschmidt’s double snapped a streak of 99 at-bats by the Cardinals since their last extra-base hit, Molina’s home run in the third inning of game one of Saturday’s doubleheader. They had 11 singles in 30 innings in between the two extra-base hits.

Worth noting: The Cardinals hope that sending Nolan Gorman back to Memphis will give him a chance to get regular at-bats this week that he likely would not have gotten on this road trip. Gorman had been just 4-of-35 in his last 14 games since Aug. 27. He started for Memphis on Tuesday night and was hitless in five at-bats, striking out three times. He will be eligible to return to the major-league roster before the end of the regular season … Juan Yepez, recalled to replace Gorman, is expected to start against lefthanders …  Also at Memphis, Moises Gomez hit his 37th home run on Tuesday night to take over the minor-league lead and tie the record, since 1960, for the most home runs in a season by a Cardinals’ minor-leaguer … Former Cardinals manager Mike Shildt, who now works for the Padres, was in unform in the San Diego dugout for the game.

Looking ahead: Miles Mikolas will get the start on Wednesday night in the second game of the series

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