Cardinals Defeat Royals 10-3 in I-70 Series Opener

The St. Louis Cardinals (25-20) opened the I-70 series with a convincing 10-3 win over the Kansas City Royals (25-21) on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium. Iván Herrera powered the offense with three hits and four RBIs, while Andre Pallante delivered seven strong innings, helping the Cardinals improve to five games over .500.

Starting Pitchers

Andre Pallante (STL): 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 4 K, 0 BB

Cole Ragans (KC): 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 7 K, 0 BB

Scoring Recap

2nd Inning

Willson Contreras doubled, advanced to third on a groundout by Herrera and scored on a wild pitch to put St. Louis up 1-0.

4th Inning

Brendan Donovan doubled and scored on Contreras’ second double of the game. Herrera followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.

Vinnie Pasquantino responded with a 448-foot solo homer to get the Royals on the board.

5th Inning

Kyle Isbel tripled and scored on a balk by Pallante, trimming the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2.

6th Inning

Masyn Winn and Donovan singled. Contreras reached on a fielder’s choice, loading the bases. Herrera cleared them with a double to center. Pedro Páges followed with an RBI single, extending the Cardinals’ lead to 7-2.

8th Inning

Herrera doubled again and scored on Jordan Walker’s infield single.

Bobby Witt Jr. tripled and came home on Salvador Pérez’s single to make it 8-3.

9th Inning

Lars Nootbaar singled, Winn walked and Donovan drove in Nootbaar with a base hit. Winn later scored on Nolan Arenado’s sacrifice fly, pushing the final to 10-3.

Stats and Notes

The Cardinals are now 80-56 all-time against the Royals, including a 49-26 record at Kauffman Stadium.

Herrera is batting .419 (18-for-43) in 13 games this season, with six doubles, five home runs and 18 RBIs. Eleven of his 18 hits have gone for extra bases.

Contreras extended his on-base streak to a career-best 27 games.

St. Louis has won 11 of its last 12 and is 6-1 on its current road trip. After starting May with a 4-13 road record, they’re now 10-14 away from home.

Betting Recap

Cardinals ML (+124) cashed and the total went OVER 8.5 (-105). Eric Sontag’s first five innings under bet nearly cashed, if not for a costly balk called on Pallante.

Standings

The Cardinals sit one game back of the division-leading Cubs in the NL Central and hold a 3.5-game lead over the third-place Reds.

On Deck

Game 2 of the series is set for Saturday at 6:10 p.m. CT. Miles Mikolas will take the mound for St. Louis, opposing Royals left-hander Noah Cameron.

Cards Hub Postgame: St. Louis Cardinals Stay Hot with 10-3 Win over Kansas City

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