ST. LOUIS — The Padres started and finished strong on their longest road trip of the season. They concluded the 10-game, three-city trip Sunday with a 9-2 victory over the Cardinals built mostly in the first four innings.

The St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres are in the fight for the final National League wild- card slot. They are facing each other seven times in a span of 11 days.

Michael McGreevy and the Cardinals wrap up a fiery four-game home series vs. the Padres with Sunday's 1:15 p.m. start at Busch Stadium.

Despite warnings issued to both teams earlier in the game, umpire Lance Barrett deemed Granillo did not intentionally throw at Machado.

The Padres scored their final run in the ninth on a double by JOhnson, sacrifice bunt by Martín Maldonado and a grounder by Fernando Tatis Jr. that shortstop Masyn Winn bobbled before throwing to first base for the out.

St. Louis (54-53) dropped back-to-back games to San Diego (57-49), resulting in a four-game series split after Sunday's 9-2 loss at Busch Stadium.

The San Diego Padres won their final game of a four-game set against the Wild Card-hopeful St. Louis Cardinals, 9-2. Manny Machado had a 4-for-5 day with three