Michael McGreevy and three relievers scattered seven hits as the St. Louis Cardinals blanked the visiting Chicago Cubs 5-0 Friday night.
McGreevy (4-2) limited the Cubs to six hits in six innings while striking out three batters and walking one. Matt Svanson pitched the seventh inning, JoJo Romero handled the eighth, and Riley O’Brien tossed the ninth to complete the shutout.
Jordan Walker went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs as the Cardinals won for the third time in four games.
Cubs starter Matthew Boyd (11-5) allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked none as Chicago lost for the fourth time in six games.
The Cubs went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. They threatened in the second inning when Carson Kelly hit a one-out single and moved up on Nico Hoerner’s two-out single before Dansby Swanson flied out to strand them.
The Cardinals moved ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the inning. Alec Burleson hit a leadoff single, went to third on Masyn Winn’s double and scored on Walker’s infield single.
Thomas Saggese reached on an infield single to load the bases, but Boyd struck out Padro Pages and got Garrett Hampson to ground back to the mound for an inning-ending double play.
Chicago threatened again in the fourth inning, when Ian Happ hit a leadoff single, took second on a balk and advanced to third on a groundout. However, Happ was thrown out trying to score on Kelly’s hard-hit grounder to third base.
McGreevy worked out of trouble in the fifth inning, too. Hoerner walked leading off and took second on Swanson’s single before McGreevy retired the next three batters.
Pages led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single and moved up when Hampson’s bunt resulted in a throwing error. After Brendan Donovan advanced the runners with a bunt, Ivan Herrera’s sacrifice fly and Willson Contreras’ single put St. Louis up 3-0.
The Cardinals increased their lead to 5-0 in the sixth inning with a two-out rally. Walker hit his fourth homer of the year, Saggese doubled and Pages followed with an RBI single.
–Field Level Media
