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Grandal helps Padres sweep Cardinals

Sep 13, 2012 - 4:31 AM San Diego, CA (Sports Network) - Yasmani Grandal drove in the winning run in the sixth inning as the San Diego Padres capped a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 3-2 win on Wednesday.

Logan Forsythe hit a solo home run for the Padres, who have won four straight and seven of eight.

Clayton Richard (13-12) gave up two runs on three hits with a walk and five strikeouts over seven innings of work to win for the fourth time in his past five starts.

"Our offense got some big hits here today and have been doing that a lot lately," said Richard. "This is a good win and we're on a bit of a roll right now."

Matt Carpenter hit a two-run home run for the Cardinals, who have dropped six of their last seven games. Kyle Lohse (14-3) suffered his first loss since June 15 as he gave up three runs -- two earned -- on five hits over six innings.

"I felt really good out there, just made a couple of mistakes," said Lohse. "They did a really good job of hitting some decent pitches. Those go a little differently, we have a different story here."

St. Louis still has a one-game lead over the Dodgers, who lost to Arizona on Wednesday, for the final wild card spot in the National League.

The Cardinals trailed by two runs in the sixth, but quickly tied the game as Jon Jay singled to start the frame and Carpenter followed with his fifth home run of the season.

San Diego, though, took the lead back in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Chase Headley kept the inning alive with a double to right field and Grandal followed with a single to right field for a 3-2 advantage.

Richard stranded a runner in the seventh before stepping off the mound for Tom Layne, who got the first two outs of the eighth before Dale Thayer got Matt Holliday to ground out and end the frame.

Luke Gregerson came on in the ninth to close the game and gave up a leadoff double to Allen Craig. A Yadier Molina sacrifice bunt moved Craig to third, but Headley made a nice play at third on a sharply hit grounder by David Freese for the second out. After Carlos Beltran walked on four pitches, Skip Schumaker grounded out to first to end the game and give Gregerson his seventh save of the year.

Forsythe hit his fifth home run of the year with two outs in the second while Cameron Maybin's double in the fifth was booted by Carpenter, allowing Yonder Alonso to score for a 2-0 lead.

Game Notes

These teams split the six-game series this year as St. Louis swept a three- game set at home in late May ... San Diego hosts Colorado for three games starting on Friday ... St. Louis plays three in LA beginning on Thursday ... Lohse fell to 3-4 in nine games against the Padres ... Richard moved to 3-0 in five starts versus the Cardinals.