Castellanos hits tying homer in 9th and Machado delivers in 10th as Padres rally past Cardinals 3-2

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Nick Castellanos hit a tying, two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning and Manny Machado delivered a sacrifice fly in the 10th to rally the San Diego Padres past the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Sunday.

Walker Buehler pitched six solid innings for the Padres, who earned a split of the four-game series and pulled into a tie with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers atop the NL West.

Jordan Walker launched a two-run homer for St. Louis in the fourth. Kyle Leahy allowed only two hits in five shutout innings.

Xander Bogaerts singled against Cardinals closer Riley O'Brien leading off the ninth. O’Brien struck out the next two batters and got ahead 0-2 on Castellanos, who then worked the count full and drove the ninth pitch he saw, a 98 mph sinker, to left field for his second home run in his first season with San Diego.

Adrian Morejon (3-1) retired pinch-hitter Jose Fermin on a popup with two on to end the top of the 10th.

In the bottom half, the Padres loaded the bases against Gordon Graceffo (2-1) on an intentional walk to Jackson Merrill and a free pass to Fernando Tatis Jr. that moved automatic runner Ramon Laureano to third.

St. Louis brought in Fermín from left field to form a five-man infield, and Machado hit a 299-foot fly to right. Laureano scored with a headfirst slide ahead of Walker’s one-hop throw.

Up next

Cardinals: RHP Andre Pallante (3-3, 4.34 ERA) starts Tuesday’s series opener against the Athletics.

Padres: RHP Matt Waldron (1-1, 7.71) pitches Tuesday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

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