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  Wednesday, Apr. 19 8:10pm ET
Kile collects himself, shuts down Padres
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Darryl Kile didn't carry the baggage of a horrid outing into his next start.

Kile (3-1) wiped a 1 2/3 inning, 11-run fiasco at Colorado out of his mind, dominating except at the end of his eight innings in the St. Louis Cardinals' 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night.

"You've got to, I guess," Kile said. "It does me no good. I can't change it. I've just got to try to go out there and get back on track and give the guys a chance."

Kile spent the last two seasons struggling with the Rockies after signing a free-agent deal, going a combined 21-30 after winning 19 games for Houston in 1997.

Against the Padres, he faced the minimum on only 69 pitches through six innings before allowing three runs the last two innings. He struck out seven and walked none.

Kile's only trouble came in the eighth, when he rushed his deliveries during heavy rain and lightning. Eric Owens extended his hitting streak to 13 games when he singled with two outs and Wiki Gonzalez followed with his first home run to cut the gap to 4-3.

"I told myself not to, but I was," Kile said. "I was kind of up there chunking and it cost me."

Dave Veres worked the ninth for his fourth save in four chances.

Tony Gwynn returned to the Padres' lineup after missing seven games with a knee injury, going 0-for-4 with a run-scoring groundout in the seventh.

Eric Davis had a disputed, two-run infield hit in the third off Sterling Hitchcock (0-4), breaking up a scoreless game.

Fernando Tatis and Shawon Dunston, subbing for .120-hitting Ray Lankford, hit consecutive home runs in a three-pitch span in the sixth, the sixth time the Cardinals have done that this season.

St. Louis has homered in 11 straight games, totaling 27 homers during the streak, and leads the major leagues with 36. This despite minimal output from Mark McGwire, who missed his seventh straight game with a lower back injury.

McGwire is expected back in the lineup Thursday after taking batting practice, running and fielding earlier in the day.

Fernando Vina scored from second on Davis' bases-loaded infield hit in the third. Replays showed first baseman Ryan Klesko beat a sliding Davis to the bag after fielding the ball, but umpire Larry Young signaled safe.

Klesko was philosophical about the call.

"He missed it, but what can you do?" Klesko said. "It was two free runs."

Davis hadn't seen the replay, but said: "The illusion of speed creates problems."

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was in the minority that believed Davis was safe.

"I honestly believe he beat it," La Russa said. "I came in and watched the replay and I thought he beat it, too."

Told by a reporter that the replay appeared conclusive that Davis was out, La Russa replied: "You must have seen the wrong replay."

Hitchcock struck out nine in six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. He's given up six home runs in 24 1/3 innings this season.

"He was just fatigued in the sixth," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He ran out of gas."

Game notes
The Padres did not leave a runner on base. ... Lankford has struck out 20 times in 50 at-bats. ... Cardinals RHP Matt Morris threw 22 pitches in two hitless innings in his first official outing in extended spring training. Morris had elbow surgery last April and is expected to join the team in June. ... The Cardinals are 5-4 without McGwire in the lineup and 5-1 with him. ... Gonzalez threw out Edgar Renteria and Craig Paquette attempting to steal in the seventh. ... Padres backup C Ben Davis is 1-for-16 since being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas April 7 due to an injury to Carlos Hernandez. ... Owens is 20-for-55 (.364) after not starting on Opening Day.
 


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