Manny Machado's massive Sunday leads Padres to series split in St. Louis

Just when Mike Shildt and the San Diego Padres needed it most, the best players on the team stepped up in a big way. Following back-to-back days of benches clearing in St. Louis between the Cardinals and Padres, cooler heads prevailed on Sunday.

This time, the only fireworks were the bats of the San Diego Padres. The top three hitters in the Padres' lineup accounted for nine hits and scored five runs in the 9-2 win.

Manny Machado was the big man on the field, as he had four hits and drove in three runs. Machado had two doubles, both against Michael McGreevy, the Cardinals' rookie starting pitcher. With the four hits, Machado is now hitting .300 on the season, and second in all of the National League, behind Will Smith. Luis Arraez, with his three hits is now up to .291.

Despite scoring nine runs, the Padres it just one home run, which came from Xander Bogaerts in the seventh inning.

Enter Xan Man. pic.twitter.com/anznIHjnkE

The win for the Padres kept them in the lead for the third and final wildcard in the National League. San Diego is now 57-49. St. Louis fell back to 54-53, and now 3.5 games out of the wildcard spot.

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The Padres finally get to head back home and play their first game there in over two weeks. San Diego's last home game was Sunday, July 13, against Philadelphia. St. Louis will remain at home and host the Miami Marlins.

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