© San Diego Padres' Cameron Maybin (24) hits a two-run home run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the third inning of their baseball game in San Diego, Calif., Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)SAN DIEGO (AP) — Cameron Maybin hit a two-run homer, Will Venable had three RBIs and the San Diego Padres handed the struggling St. Louis Cardinals an 11-3 loss on Monday night.
The loss dropped the Cardinals 9 1-2 games behind first-place Cincinnati in the NL Central. The Reds beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in 14 innings. St. Louis, which has lost four of five, had its lead cut to one game over the idle Los Angeles Dodgers for the second NL wild-card berth.
Maybin connected for his seventh homer off Jaime Garcia (4-7) that broke a 2-all tie in the fourth inning. Maybin had three hits and scored three runs.
Chris Denorfia tied his career high with four hits and also had two RBIs. Logan Forsythe added three hits to tie his career high as San Diego matched its season best for runs and had 17 hits.
The loss started a crucial seven-game West Coast trip for the Cardinals, who begin a four-game set on Thursday night against the Dodgers.
Eric Stults (6-2) allowed three runs on five hits with five strikeouts and a walk in 5 1-3 innings. Stults is 5-0 in seven starts since rejoining the starting rotation on August 6.
Garcia got pulled after only three innings, giving up four runs on seven hits. The lefty struck out four, walked three and had two wild pitches.
San Diego has won 14 of 18 overall and 18 of 24 at home.
The Cardinals had cut the lead to 6-3 when they loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning. But Dale Thayer, who came in and gave up a single to Carlos Beltran to load the bases, got Matt Holliday to ground into a double play.
Rookie Pete Kozma put the Cardinals ahead on a two-run triple with two outs in the second. Kozma finished with three hits.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
