Siegrist fired three consecutive strikes to get Wil Myers looking and then ended his inning with a 92 mph fastball that Melvin Upton Jr. whiffed on.

“We needed him to pitch,” Matheny said. “When you play 162 games you’re going to have days when you just don’t feel right, and you’ve got to do your job. He didn’t feel good at all. But he threw the ball well.”

CARDS ENCOUNTER SLIDE RULE

For the first time this season baseball’s new slide rule benefited the Cardinals, though they weren’t exactly sure how or why. In the fifth inning Sunday, Padres outfielder Matt Kemp bounced into an apparent double play. The Cardinals turned the play without trouble, and on it Jon Jay advanced from second to third. Or so everyone thought.

Official Mike Everitt, the crew chief, ruled that the Padres’ runner, Myers, deviated from his path or reached out toward Cardinals second baseman Jedd Gyorko.

By the clarified rule, Jay had to return to second.

“I’m pretty sure he could have been able to reach the bag,” Gyorko said. “But I don’t know if they called it that he changed direction. It’s hard to figure out. All I know is he slid into me — which I didn’t think was that bad.”