Willson Contreras had his second two-run home run in as many nights, and Miles Mikolas pitched the second consecutive quality start for St. Louis as the Cardinals defeated the Padres 5-2 on Tuesday night.

With their mixture of solid baserunning, speed, hitting prowess, and defense, the Cardinals did all the little things that they need to do to win ballgames. And after losing 91 games last year, it is quite the refreshing sight to see early on.

After bullpen issues hurt them in Los Angeles, Giovanny Gallegos, Andrew Kittredge and Ryan Helsley put up a scoreless inning each against San Diego.

Contreras’ two-run homer with two outs in the sixth inning off Yu Darvish proved to be the deciding moment. The Padres managed just three hits after the fourth inning.

After trailing 1-0 early on, the Cardinals tied the game in the top of the third when Victor Scott II led off with a double, moved to third on Michael Siani’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Masyn Winn’s sacrifice fly. Siani also had a spectacular diving catch in the outfield early on in the game.

Small ball thrived for St. Louis on Tuesday night. Nolan Arenado’s slow chopper, fielded by third baseman Tyler Wade in the eighth inning, would have resulted in a force out had Campusano’s foot stayed on home plate, but instead brought in a run. And a sacrifice fly by Alex Burleson followed to push the Cardinals’ lead to 5-2.