Padres score 7 in 7th, win 8-0

Lackey has been pretty solid on the road this year and also has the luxury of playing behind the hot-hitting St. Louis Cardinals. The Padres have won seven straight when scoring more than three runs. Kelley replaced Kennedy and struck out pitcher Carlos Martinez, who had hits in his first two at-bats.

“We had a potential for a double play that gives us two outs and nobody on and it looks like a completely different inning”, manager Mike Matheny said. Solarte had a pair of hits and has now homered in three straight games.

San Diego led 1-0 when the Cardinals threatened in the seventh inning against Kennedy (8-11). Kennedy struck out Carpenter and Piscotty to end the inning.

A throwing error by St. Louis third baseman Mark Reynolds then led to three unearned runs in the inning.

San Diego then sent 12 men to the plate in the bottom of the inning, keyed by Kemp’s two-run, bases-loaded single and Upton’s two-run double, both off reliever Seth Maness, that made it 5-0.

Lackey is 6-3 with a 2.12 ERA over the streak and allowed two runs over a season-high 8 1-3 innings to defeat Miami Saturday. Carpenter barked at Segal and quickly was ejected. After Martinez reached on a one-out double in the third inning and went to third base, Kennedy struck out Piscotty looking. He has a 6.30 ERA in four career appearances against the Padres but fared well in his lone start as he allowed one run and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings while taking a no-decision July 4. Wong also struck out and Murphy went to the bullpen once more for righthander Bud Norris.

Martinez, left in, presumably, to sacrifice, took strike one, fouled off a bunt on strike two and than swung and missed for strike three. The strikeout pitch deflected off Norris and bounced away, allowing Bourjos to take first. Kemp, who had but one home run in the season’s opening nine weeks, slugged his 15th of the season on Friday.

Jason Heyward didn’t start the final two games due to tightness in his left hamstring, but pinch-hit Wednesday and is expected back in the lineup Friday. The Cardinals are 18-4 in his 22 starts this season.

Kennedy is one of the Padres’ upcoming free agents, owed about $3 million for the rest of the season, and he will now certainly play out the string in San Diego. That not being enough, the 24-year-old outfielder followed it up with another hit in the 5th inning for his first multi-hit game. The right-handed Kennedy will take the mound against the Cardinals. “Of his RBI single in the third inning, Jankowski said, “(Lackey) didn’t want to fall behind 2-0 and I got a good pitch to hit”.