Martinez, Ozuna homers pace Cardinals past Padres
Jose Martinez and Marcell Ozuna each cracked two-run homers Monday night to support Jack Flaherty's 6 1/3 good innings as the St. Louis Cardinals notched a 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Flaherty (3-2) retired 14 straight hitters in one stretch before issuing a one-out walk to Cory Spangenberg in the seventh and getting lifted for John Brebbia.
Flaherty gave up just three hits and a run, fanning six to go with his lone walk.
Jordan Lyles (2-3) permitted 11 hits and four runs in six innings in absorbing the loss. Lyles walked none and struck out two, yielding two homers for the fourth time in five outings.
Spangenberg initiated the scoring in the second with a 359-foot line shot that barely cleared the wall in right, his sixth homer of the year.
San Diego got two other hits in the inning, but couldn't produce another hit off Flaherty for the game's remainder.
Lyles lost the 1-0 edge with one swing of Martinez's hot bat. Martinez drilled a 419-foot shot to the seats in deep right-center with Tommy Pham aboard in the third for his team-high 10th homer of the season. It was Martinez's fifth homer in five games.
Ozuna increased the margin to 4-1 in the fifth when he pounced on a hanging slider, lofting it 410 feet to left-center into the first row of bleachers behind the Padres' bullpen. Martinez scored in front of him after collecting his third hit of the night.
San Diego missed on a golden chance to score in the seventh when it drew three straight walks to load the bases. But Brebbia fanned Raffy Lopez and pinch-hitter Jose Pirela to end the threat.
An infield out by Hunter Renfroe in the eighth scored Travis Jankowski and pulled the Padres within 4-2, but Jedd Gyorko unloaded his fifth homer in the Cardinals' half of the inning. It was Gyorko's ninth homer in 15 games against San Diego, where he played his first four years.
Bud Norris pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances.
--Field Level Media
