Saint Louis, Missouri - The St. Louis Cardinals outlasted the San Diego Padres to keep some distance between the two teams as they both vie to earn a spot in the upcoming MLB postseason.

The Cardinals beat the Padres 8-2 on Friday night for their sixth straight win on the season as they hold on to the second and final NL Wild Card spot, with the Padres one and a half games back – at least for now.

This was the first of a three-game weekend series between two teams who are each looking to sneak into the postseason, which starts in three weeks.

Left fielder Dylan Carlson (22) led the Redbirds going 2-for-4 with both hits being home runs – one a grand slam – to help his team easily take the victory. With five RBIs in the game, Carlson’s efforts could’ve won the whole thing with the way the Padres played in this one.

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Miles Mikolas (1-2) got the start for St. Louis and pitched 5.2 innings of shutout baseball, allowing three hits but also striking out three. His last win on the mound was September 12, 2019.

Vince Velasquez, who got the start for the Padres last minute, got shelled for four earned runs over four innings to drop his record to 3-7.

Paul Goldschmidt batted in Tommy Edman for the Cardinals’ first run to get things going, followed by Tyler O’Neill’s two-run shot to put his team up 3-0 in the first inning.

Carlson hit his first homer in the fourth to add to the Cards’ lead that held going into the seventh

San Diego finally put two runs on the board thanks to former Cardinal Tommy Pham coming in off Jake Cronenworth’s sacrifice fly, while Jurickson Profar hit a single that brought home Eric Hosmer.

Carlson put the game away for the Cards with his eighth-inning grand slam, his 15th homer of the season.

Both teams are back in action for game number two in their three-game set on Saturday night.