St. Louis dropped its second game in a row to the San Diego Padres 6-4 on Tuesday night, thanks to a disastrous fourth inning.
Adam Wainwright had a no-hitter on his hands up until the fourth inning, and the Cardinals were looking good for the 2-0 lead they had at the time, but Peter Kozma -- who had been the best player on the Cards the night before -- committed an error at shortstop, which started a chain of hits for the Padres. By the end of the inning, San Diego was up, 5-2, and it never looked back.
The Cards did chip back a couple of times, getting runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but the Padres closed it out with a final run of their own in the seventh, sealing the victory and the win in the series against St. Louis.
Losses like the now two straight against the Padres are very bad for the Wild Card health of the Cardinals -- they have now lost 10 of their last 15 games and are only a single game ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the final spot in the Wild Card standings. It's looking like the race will come down to those two, as slumping Pittsburgh is currently 2.5 games behind.
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