The St Louis Cardinals could have used a two-hour rain delay, as instead of lightning striking near Busch Stadium, it was the San Diego Padres bullpen striking out the Cardinals to stifle a comeback effort, leading to a 7-5 Redbird loss Tuesday night.

The Cardinals struck first, with Masyn Winn scoring in the first on a wild pitch, then Luken Baker claiming the first out with a sacrifice fly that scored Alec Burleson. The Padres regrouped from the opening frame to plate four in the second, including Manny Machado’s 22nd home run of the year. Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run home run in the fifth put the Cardinals back on top, but the Cardinals bullpen was unable to keep the Padres off the board, as Jurkcison Profar sacrificed himself to tie the game, followed by Jake Cronenworth’s go-ahead single in the seventh. The Cardinals’ threat in the seventh was contained by a double play, and Masyn Winn was stranded on second in the eighth after reliever Jason Adam claimed three strikeouts. The Cardinals stranded ten base runners in the game.

Milwaukee also losing last night was not much consolation for the Cardinals (65-67), who remain 10.5 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central and seven games behind Atlanta in the wild card chase. The Cardinals seek to avoid the sweep Wednesday evening, with first pitch at 6:45.