Cardinals post second straight shutout

The St. Louis Cardinals liked the feeling of shutting out an opponent so much, they did it again.

The Cardinals traveled to Miller Park on Friday to start a three-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers, and Lance Lynn proved very effective as St. Louis cruised to a 6-0 shutout.

The win came on the heels of a 3-0 shutout of the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.

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St. Louis picked up its 70th win of the season and stayed six games ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Central.

Lynn (9-6) struck out seven batters in six innings of work before yielding to Carlos Villanueva, who finished the game with three innings and three strikeouts to pick up the long save.

For once, the offense fired up for a 10-hit attack, but all of the scoring came in one inning as St. Louis plated six runs in a fiery fifth inning.

Doubles by Stephen Piscotty and Matt Carpenter started the fun, and an RBI single by Jason Heyward gave the Cards a 3-0 lead. Randal Grichuk then blasted his 14th homer of the season, a three-run shot that cleared the bases, doubled the score and gave St. Louis a huge cushion which it would not relinquish.

Tyler Cravy picked up the loss for Milwaukee, as he fell to 0-3 overall.

What’s next

Jaime Garcia (3-4, 1.98 ERA) takes the hill as the Cardinals play the second of a three-game series at 7:10 p.m. Milwaukee counters with Wily Peralta (2-6, 4.55).

Schedule