ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Andre Pallante pitched seven strong innings and Riley O’Brien earned his 18th save as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium III.

The Cardinals struck first in the second inning. Blaze Jordan doubled to left, scoring Lars Nootbaar, and Nathan Church singled to center to drive in Jordan, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

San Diego answered in the fifth. Ty France singled to center, driving in Samad Taylor, cutting the deficit to 2-1. St. Louis regained a two-run edge in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly by Nootbaar that scored Ivan Herrera.

In the sixth, Jackson Merrill doubled to center, scoring Fernando Tatis Jr. to make it 3-2, but the Padres could get no closer.

Pallante (8-4) allowed two earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts over seven innings. Michael King (4-6) took the loss, allowing three runs in 4 1/3 innings. O’Brien worked a perfect ninth for the save.

Attendance was 29,604. Time of game was 2:43. The Cardinals improved to 40-31, while the Padres fell to 37-35.