Sonny Gray logs six strong innings in Cardinals’ win over Padres

ST. LOUIS — Sonny Gray logged six strong innings in his best start of the second half, allowing just three hits and one run in the Cardinals’ 4-1 victory over the Padres on Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

St. Louis (67-67) earned a split of the four-game set with surging San Diego, which is 26-11 since the All-Star break. The Padres (76-60) hold the second NL Wild Card spot — eight games ahead of the Cards.

The lone run Gray allowed was on a home run by Jackson Merrill, which has been an issue. That’s the 13th homer Gray has allowed since the All-Star break, but only the fifth he’s yielded at Busch Stadium this season.

That’s something Gray and pitching coach Dusty Blake have been working hard on between starts, manager Oliver Marmol said pregame.

“They dove into it quite a bit, a breakdown of what they think’s going on with location and everything,” Marmol said. “They go into it pretty deep. It’s definitely a topic that you go through to make sure you’re not missing anything.

“[Gray] loves that side of it, just analyzing and making sure he’s not missing anything, either. It’s a good collaboration with him and that department.”

The Cardinals didn’t take advantage of every prime scoring opportunity against the Padres in the finale, but the one time they did proved to be enough.

After Alec Burleson drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the third, Nolan Arenado fired a sharp one-hopper (94.2 mph exit velocity) right at San Diego shortstop Tyler Wade, who just missed the ball, as it skipped deep into the left-center gap. Burleson hustled to third and Arenado rolled into second with none out.

Burleson scored on a groundout by Luken Baker and, after Brendan Donovan grounded out to Manny Machado at third, Paul Goldschmidt came through with the two-out RBI double.

It’s been a struggle for the former MVP in similar situations this season; Goldschmidt entered the game batting just .174 with a .502 OPS with runners in scoring position. That was just his second double — and fourth extra-base hit — with RISP all season.