Cardinals’ Albert Pujols held homerless, but breaks up Padres ace Blake Snell’s no-hit bid in 7th

SAN DIEGO — Blake Snell held St. Louis hitless until Albert Pujols beat the shift for a single with two outs in the seventh inning and the San Diego Padres beat the NL Central-leading Cardinals 1-0 on Wednesday night.

Snell (8-9) allowed two hits in seven innings on 117 pitches and struck out 13 to tie his career high. The left-hander’s brilliant effort carried the Padres to their fifth straight win and extended the rotation’s scoreless streak to 27 2/3 innings.

The Padres have shut out the Cardinals in the first two games of the three-game series, keeping Pujols at 698 career homers.

San Diego stayed 1 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia for the NL’s second wild-card spot.

The left-handed Snell had shut down Pujols and the Cardinals into the seventh, retiring the slugger twice and issuing just two walks. But with the Padres shifting the right-handed Pujols, the 42-year-old slugger drove a ball through the wide-open right side of the infield for an easy hit on a 3-1 pitch, Snell’s 107th of the game.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.