St. Louis Cardinals vs San Diego Padres Box Score on Sep 23, 2023

Juan Soto hit a 461-foot, three-run homer in the first, added an RBI double in the fourth and made three excellent catches in left Sunday afternoon as the San Diego Padres closed out their home season with a 12-2 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber match of a three-game series.

The Padres, who have won nine of their last 10 games, scored at least one run in each of the first six innings and finished with nine extra-base hits in a season-high-tying 18-hit attack.

Padres right-handed starter Michael Wacha, with the help of outfielders Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr., shut out St. Louis for six innings before Luken Baker put the Cardinals on the board with a two-run homer in the seventh. Wacha (13-4) gave up the two runs on six hits and a walk with six strikeouts in seven innings.

Soto saved the Padres at least one run in the first with a diving catch in short left, then made two catches after long runs to his left and right in the fifth. An inning later, Tatis leaped to make a catch above the wall in right to take away a two-run homer from Michael Siani.

Xander Bogaerts doubled to open the bottom half of the first against Cardinals left-hander Drew Rom (1-4). Ha-Seong Kim reached when his fly to right was dropped by Jordan Walker. Soto then drove a 3-1 sweeper from Rom to right-center to give the Padres a 3-0 lead before a batter had been retired.

The Padres added two runs in the second, one in the third, two in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the sixth.

Soto finished a triple shy of the cycle. Catcher Luis Campusano also had three hits for the Padres, including a double.

Bogaerts and Eguy Rosario each had a triple and a double in five at-bats. Rosario contributed two RBIs and a run while Bogaerts had an RBI and two runs.

Kim, Tatis and Matthew Batten also had two hits while Jose Azocar hit a solo home run in the fifth inning. Every member of the Padres starting lineup had at least one hit.

Rom gave up eight runs (six earned) on 11 hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.

--Field Level Media