A tense battle for the third wild card spot in the National League briefly spilled off of the benches again Saturday, July 26 at Busch Stadium, as two batters were drilled twice by pitches in the St Louis Cardinals’ 3-1 loss to the San Diego Padres.

The Padres’ Jake Cronenworth took a base after he was hit by a pitch in the second inning by Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore. Willson Contreras took a pitch to the left wrist in the fourth by Randy Vásquez, a day after he was plunked by Nick Pivetta that resulted in a benches-clearing moment but no further incident. However, the benches would clear again in the ninth, when after Manny Machado was hit to lead off the fifth, reliever Andre Granillo would unintentially send one at Machado. The exchange of words peaked when Cardinals coach Jon Jay was ejected after confronting Machado. That wouldn’t be the last hit by pitch, as Contreras would get plonked again in the bottom of the ninth, the 17th instance of the year.

As for actual runs in the game, Bryce Johnson singled in the Padres’ first score in the second, as Cronenworth took advantage of a fielding error by Victor Scott II. The Cardinals knotted the game up in the home half of the frame with a Jordan Walker double scoring Nolan Arenado. Johnson and Cronenworth teamed up for the game-winning play in the fourth, as Johnson’s sacrifice bunt brought in Cronenworth. The Padres added insurance in the ninth with a ground out by Fernando Tatis Jr scoring Johnson.

Liberatore took the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks across 4.1 innings, while striking out three.

The Cardinals now sit at 54-52, eight games behind the NL Central lead and 2.5 behind the Padres for the third wild card spot. Michael McGreevy takes his spot in the rotation as he’ll have the start Sunday afternoon; first pitch is at 1:15 p.m.