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Sonny Gray scattered three hits over six innings as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the visiting San Diego Padres 4-1 Thursday afternoon to salvage a 2-2 split in their four-game series.

Gray (12-9) allowed the one run, struck out four and walked none. Ryan Helsley closed out the Padres in the ninth for his 41st save.

Masyn Winn hit a homer for the Cardinals, who won for the sixth time in nine games.

Jackson Merrill hit a home run to account for the Padres offense. San Diego is 1 1/2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the battle for the National League’s top wild card.

Padres starting pitcher Michael King (11-8) allowed two unearned runs on six hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three.

The Cardinals kept King under duress through the first three innings.

Alec Burleson hit a one-out single in the first inning, stole second base and went to third on a groundout. Luken Baker walked and stole second base, but King struck out Brendan Donovan to escape.

In the second inning, Ivan Herrera hit a two-out single and Victor Scott II hit a ground-rule double. King escaped again by getting Winn to ground out.

St. Louis finally broke through to take a 2-0 lead in the third. Burleson walked, then an error by Padres shortstop Tyler Wade allowed Burleson to reach third and the hitter, Nolan Arenado, to reach second.

Baker hit a run-scoring groundout and Paul Goldschmidt hit a RBI double.

Merrill’s fifth-inning homer cut San Diego’s deficit to 2-1. It was the rookie’s 20th homer of the season.

The Cardinals knocked King out of the game in the fifth inning. Baker drew a one-out walk, Donovan hit a double, and Goldschmidt got an intentional walk to load the bases.

Yuki Matsui came on to retire the next two batters and end the threat.

Winn’s homer in the sixth inning increased the Cardinals’ lead to 3-1. The blast was his 12th of the campaign.

St. Louis upped its lead to 4-1 in the eighth inning. Lars Nootbaar hit a triple and scored on Herrera’s single.

Scott reached on a bunt single before the next three Cardinals were retired.

–Field Level Media