Padres 3, Cardinals 1: Yangervis Solarte homered and Tyson Ross overcame five walks as San Diego edged visiting St. Louis in the opener of a three-game series.

Ross (10-10) allowed one run while striking out seven over six frames to win his third straight start and Joaquin Benoit worked around one baserunner in the ninth for his third save. Alexi Amarista and Jedd Gyorko each drove in a run for San Diego, which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Solarte and Seth Smith drew back-to-back walks from Lance Lynn (11-8) to begin the sixth and Gyorko broke the 1-1 tie with a two-out single that scored Solarte from second. Lynn struck out six and yielded two runs (one earned) while throwing 117 pitches in six innings for St. Louis, which matched a season high with three errors and remained 1 1/2 games behind first-place Milwaukee in the National League Central.

Solarte added an insurance run in the seventh with a two-out solo blast off Jason Motte, who has allowed seven homers in 21 innings this season. Gyorko had two hits and Ross' ERA rose to 1.10 in six starts this month to help the Padres improve to 37-1 when leading after six innings.

San Diego took an early lead in the third when Rene Rivera reached on an error by second baseman Kolten Wong and later scored on Amarista’s sacrifice fly. The Cardinals pulled even in the fifth as Lynn recorded a leadoff single, moved to third on Matt Carpenter’s double and scored on Wong’s sacrifice fly.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Padres activated SS Everth Cabrera from the 15-day disabled list and designated LHP Jason Lane for assignment. … Cardinals 2B Daniel Descalso left the game in the ninth inning after being hit on his right leg by a Benoit pitch. … Ross has tossed at least six innings while allowing two or fewer runs in eight consecutive starts.