Cardinals win 5-0 as Gray throws complete game shutout gem

By MATT PIKE

Sonny Gray put on a brilliant performance on the mound to help the St. Louis Cardinals bounce back from back to back shutout losses, pitching a complete game shutout to help the Redbirds beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-0 on the road Friday night. 

The Cardinals scored three runs in the third inning, all thanks once again to the long ball, which provided much of their scoring against the Chicago Cubs.  Pedro Pagés opened the inning with a solo home run for St. Louis and later in the inning, after Masyn Winn reached first base on a forceout and Brendan Donovan, who had walked, was thrown out at second, Alec Burleson’s two run home run pushed the Cardinals lead to 3-0 on his 10th home run of the season. 

After Burleson led off the sixth inning with a double, Nolan Arenado extended the St. Louis lead with a double of his own, driving in Burleson for his 40th RBI of the season.  Arenado got his 41st RBI in the eighth inning with an RBI single, scoring Willson Contreras for the final run.

Gray put on his best performance of the season for the Cardinals in the win, improving to 8-2, giving up just one hit to the Guardians and striking out 11 batters in the victory.  The 11 strikeouts are a season high for Gray who for only the second time this season gave up less than two hits in a start. 

St. Louis and Cleveland continue their series tomorrow.  Miles Mikolas (4-5, 4.31 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Slade Cecconi (3-3, 3.38 ERA) for the Guardians.  First pitch is at 3:10pm, the game will be joined near the start at 3 on KY 102 (102.5 FM). 

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.