ST. LOUIS -- Jedd Gyorko experienced a rocky start to the season, even spending time at Triple-A El Paso.
Now that he's back with the San Diego Padres, Gyorko might just be back to the form that saw him clout 23 homers as a rookie two years ago.
The second baseman snapped a tie in the top of the ninth inning on Friday night with an RBI single, lifting San Diego to a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
After Yangervis Solarte laced a one-out triple that one-hopped off the right-center field wall, Gyorko worked a full count against closer Trevor Rosenthal and lined a hanging slider into left field.
It was the first run in 23 2/3 innings against Rosenthal (1-1), who entered the game with an 0.50 ERA.
"There's a reason his ERA was point 5," Gyorko said of Rosenthal. "That guy's tough. He left a slider out over the plate and I put a good swing on it."
Gyorko also produced a good swing off another mistake pitch, pounding a 2-0 fastball from starter Michael Wacha 404 feet into the seats in left to start the seventh and erase St. Louis' 1-0 lead.
"A bad pitch," Wacha said. "It didn't come out of my hand right."
It was the one mistake Wacha made through seven innings, as he allowed just five runs and a hit with one walk and six strikeouts.
But Padres starter Andrew Cashner matched Wacha in a classic pitcher's duel between two big, hard-throwing right-handers. Cashner worked into the seventh, departing after a leadoff walk to right fielder Jason Heyward.
In six-plus innings, Cashner gave up three hits and a run, walking three and striking out three.
"I located my slider today and I thought my fastball command was good on both sides of the plate," he said. "The defense tonight was outstanding."
Cashner's only trouble spot came in the fifth when the Cardinals (51-28) filled the bases with no outs. But Cashner went into damage control mode, swapping a run for two outs on a double play grounder by first baseman Xavier Scruggs and then retiring center fielder Tommy Pham on a groundout.
St. Louis pushed the go-ahead run to third with one out in the eighth, but Joaquin Benoit (5-3) struck out pinch-hitter Greg Garcia with a changeup and got a first-pitch flyout from second baseman Kolten Wong.
Closer Craig Kimbrel wrapped up his 21st save in the ninth, inducing a game-ending double play ball from Heyward, his former Atlanta teammate. The Padres improved to 39-43 with just their 10th win in 33 games since Busch Stadium opened in 2006.
"They're a good team and they grind it out," Cashner said of the Cardinals, "but we haven't made many mistakes since we've been here."
St. Louis dropped its fourth straight game, constituting its longest losing streak of the year, and fell to 29-11 in front of 47,330 -- the fourth-largest regular-season crowd in stadium history.
While the Cardinals fell to 1-for-34 with runners in scoring position during this streak, San Diego enjoyed the clutch work of Gyorko.
"He's a little more compact, a little more confident, and he knows we believe in him," Padres manager Pat Murphy said of Gyorko. "I'm excited about what he's doing."
NOTES: St. Louis called up OF Tommy Pham on Friday from Triple-A Memphis and started him in center field, batting eighth. Pham was batting .338 with five homers and 21 RBI in 24 games since returning from a left quad injury on June 6. ... San Diego 3B Will Middlebrooks (ankle) didn't start for the fourth straight game. He was injured Sunday, stepping on a stray bat in the Arizona on-deck circle. ... The Cardinals optioned Thursday night's starter, LHP Tim Cooney, to Memphis to make room for Pham. Cooney could return for Tuesday's day-night doubleheader at the Chicago Cubs as the 26th man.
