Cardinals 3, Padres 1
ST. LOUIS -- A day after recording his first major league hit, run and steal, Tommy Pham was at it again Sunday.
The Cardinals center fielder belted his first big league homer Sunday and drove in all three runs, leading St. Louis to a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium.
Called up from Triple-A Memphis on Friday, Pham erased the Cardinals' 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the third Sunday, lining an 0-1 pitch from Ian Kennedy 370 feet over the left field wall with pitcher Lance Lynn aboard after a leadoff single.
Pham stopped at second, thinking the ball was in play, before third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt twirled the index finger in the air -- the signal for a homer. Following his trip around the bases, Pham took a curtain call from the crowd of 42,764.
Pham added an insurance run in the fifth, following Lynn's ground-rule double with his own double off the left-center-field wall to cap the scoring.
Lynn (6-4) cruised through seven innings, allowing three hits and an unearned run with three walks and eight strikeouts. With closer Trevor Rosenthal unavailable after throwing in the previous three games, Kevin Siegrist pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
Kennedy (4-8) supplied a quality start in defeat, giving up seven hits and three runs over six innings with no walks and four strikeouts.
San Diego (39-45) scored its only run in the third on a two-out single by right fielder Matt Kemp. Lynn set up the threat by walking third baseman Yangervis Solarte with two outs and then committing a throwing error on a pickoff attempt.
St. Louis (53-28) improved to 31-11 at home and salvaged a split of the four-game weekend series, maintaining a six-game lead over Pittsburgh in the National League Central.
NOTES: St. Louis LHP Marco Gonzales threw live batting practice Sunday morning at the team's spring training camp in Jupiter, Fla., and he could start a rehab assignment later this week. Gonzales has been hampered this year by shoulder and left pectoral injuries. ... San Diego starters have 52 quality starts in 85 games, more than any team in baseball except for the Cardinals (55 in 81). ... St. Louis RHP Jordan Walden plans to throw a bullpen session Monday before the team opens a four-game series at the Chicago Cubs. Walden has been disabled since April 30 due to a right biceps injury.