By MATT PIKE
Sonny Gray took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat San Francisco 4-3 Sunday at Busch Stadium to leave the Giants four games back for the last NL wild card.
Lars Nootbaar chased Giants starter Kai-Wei Teng with an RBI single after walks to Jordan Walker, Nathan Church and José Fermín starting the fifth. Iván Herrera had an RBI single, Nolan Gorman drew a bases-loaded walk off José Butto, and Masyn Winn grounded into run-scoring double play for a 4-0 lead.
Noot Noot! pic.twitter.com/0ndWKWCswz
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) September 7, 2025
Gray walked his first two batters in the sixth, struck out Heliot Ramos and allowed Rafael Devers’ RBI single to center. After Devers broke up Gray’s no-hit bid, Dominic Smith and Matt Chapman hit RBI single’s. Matt Svanson then struck out Joon-Ho Lee looking with the bases loaded, and center fielder Nathan Church made a running catch on a sharp line drive from Casey Schmitt.
Gray, improved to 13-8 on the season with the win, allowing three runs, two hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts. St. Louis is 14-5 when Gray starts at home. Riley O’Brien allowed a ninth-inning single and retired Patrick Bailey on a game-ending, double-play grounder for his third save, finishing a five-hitter. At the plate, Herrera was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Church was 2-for-3 with a walk.
St. Louis hits the road next and travels to Seattle. Miles Mikolas (7-10, 4.89) is set to take the mound in the opener for the Cardinals opposite Bryan Woo (12-7, 3.02) for the Mariners to open the three-game series. First pitch is at 8:40pm, coverage will begin at 8:30 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
