Ugly 12-1 loss precedes trade before deadline

SAN DIEGO -- At least the St. Louis Cardinals didn't get shut out.

Little else went right for the Cardinals on Wednesday night.

Rookie Jesse Hahn held St. Louis to one run and four hits in seven innings and Jedd Gyorko and Will Venable each homered and drove in four runs to lead the San Diego Padres to a 12-1 victory Wednesday night.

"It was probably our ugliest loss of the year," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "That's not the kind of baseball we've played all year. No excuses, we were terrible. You can take any of it today and it was awful."

Yangervis Solarte, obtained from the New York Yankees in the trade for Chase Headley, had four hits and the Padres tied their season high with 16. Yasmani Grandal was the only regular without a hit, although all eight starters scored at least one run. The Padres fell one run shy of their season high.

Will Venable hit a 379-foot, three-run homer to right to cap the eight-run seventh. It was his fourth. The Padres had five hits, three walks and a hit batter off three relievers in the inning. Gyorko hit a three-run double, his third hit.

Hahn's latest impressive start -- on his 25th birthday -- put the Padres, buried in third place in the NL West, in position to sweep the series.

Hahn (7-2) struck out three and walked two in winning his third straight start. The lanky righty retired the first seven batters before Tony Cruz beat out an infield single. Hahn was acquired in a seven-player trade with Tampa Bay on Jan. 22.

Hahn took a shutout into the seventh before allowing a one-out RBI single by Peter Bourjos singled in Matt Adams.

Gyorko, who returned Monday from a 44-game stay on the disabled list with plantar fasciitis, homered to left on a 1-0 pitch from Joe Kelly with one out in the fourth to give San Diego a 3-0 lead. It was his sixth. Yonder Alonso followed with a triple and came in on Venable's single.

Alexi Amarista had three hits and scored three runs, and Solarte also had three hits.

Amarista hustled for a double in the third when his blooper dropped In between second baseman Kolten Wong and right fielder Oscar Taveras. He scored on a wild pitch.

Kelly (2-2) went five innings, allowing four runs and seven hits while striking out five and walking one.

"Pitches were up that should have been down. They were above the knees," Kelly said. "My fastball, I couldn't locate it. My ball was running a lot. I just need to control it better next time."