SAN DIEGO (AP) Paul DeJong homered and drove in a career-high four runs, and Jedd Gyorko, Marcell Ozuna, Harrison Bader and Tommy Pham also went deep to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-5 victory against the San Diego Padres on Friday night.
The Cardinals scored all but one run on the homers. Four of the five long balls were off Padres rookie Eric Lauer (1-2), who lasted only 2 1/3 innings.
DeJong hit a three-run shot to left in the second, with Ozuna and Gyorko having reached on singles. It was his eighth.
Bader homered leading off the third, his second, and Ozuna and Gyorko hit consecutive shots with one out to chase Lauer. It was Ozuna’s third and Gyorko’s fourth.
Gyorko was a second-round draft pick of the Padres in 2010 and played with San Diego from 2013 until being traded to St. Louis in December 2015. The Padres gave him a $35 million contract in April 2014, just 13 games into his second full big league season.
Bryan Mitchell, demoted to the bullpen after going winless in seven starts, allowed Pham’s two-run homer in the sixth that gave St. Louis a 9-0 lead. It was his seventh.
The only Cardinals run that didn’t come via homer was on DeJong’s single in the fifth, which scored Ozuna. Ozuna scored three runs.
Pham also homered in a 2-1 victory Thursday night.
Gyorko and Pham had three hits apiece.
Cardinals starter Luke Weaver (3-2) held San Diego to four hits in five scoreless innings while striking out four and walking one.
Lauer, making his fourth big league start, allowed six runs and seven hits, with one strikeout and one walk.
San Diego’s Travis Jankowski homered in the ninth, his first. A.J. Ellis hit an RBI double in the sixth, while Franchy Cordero had an RBI triple and Jose Pirela a run-scoring double in the seventh.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: Placed LHP Tyler Lyons on the 10-day disabled list with a mid-back strain, retroactive to Wednesday, and activated LHP Brett Cecil from the 10-day DL.
UP NEXT
St. Louis has a chance to clinch the four-game series Saturday as Michael Wacha takes the mound against Tyson Ross for San Diego. The first pitch at Petco Park is scheduled for 7:40. Saturday’s game can be heard on KTLO-AM. The broadcast begins at 6:45 with Ameren Total Access.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI