Eric Hosmer homered, San Diego's bullpen took a perfect game into the sixth inning and the Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Tuesday night for their 10th win in 14 games.

 

This was the third bullpen game for San Diego this season, all since left-hander Joey Lucchesi went down with a right hip strain.

 

Padres reliever Matt Strahm started the bullpen game and retired nine batters on 36 pitches, including four strikeouts. Adam Cimber (3-2) retired the next six with two strikeouts before Harrison Bader broke up the perfect game with an infield single in the sixth. Bader was promptly erased in a double play.

 

The Padres' nine-man bullpen makes the starter-by-committee approach effective. Green said he plans to go with it again Sunday.

 

Brad Hand pitched the ninth for his 20th save.

 

Hosmer drove the first pitch of the fourth inning to center field to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. It was his second home run in three games.

 

A.J. Ellis tacked on two more with a two-out hit in the fourth. The Cardinals challenged the safe call on the second run, but replay showed the Freddy Galvis beat catcher Yadier Molina's tag at home plate.

 

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (7-2) struck out five in six innings and walked none. He has walked one or less in all seven of his home starts this season, but St. Louis still lost for the second time in three games.

 

Marcell Ozuna's RBI single snapped the Padres' shutout bid in the seventh. Ozuna has driven in five runs in his last four games.