St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright delivers a pitch to the San Diego Padres in the fourth inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on September 19, 2010. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Adam Wainwright picked up his 19th win of the season by allowing just one run on five hits while striking out seven as the Cardinals took three out of four from San Diego to close the Reds’ lead in the Central Division to six after a 4-1 win Sunday at Busch Stadium
The Cardinals caught the Padres at the right time, who have struggled of late and have lost 12 of the last 13 meetings at Busch Stadium. Colby Rasmus homered and scored two runs to help beat Jon Garland who gave up all four runs in seven innings.
Wainwright held the Padres hitless until a leadoff single in the sixth. They finally broke through in the eighth with a RBI single by Adrian Gonzalez. The Padres best chance to score actually came in the fourth inning when Wainwright walked the bases loaded.
The Reds dropped another game to Houston. Cincinnati’s lead is six games and the magic number remains at 8.
