ST. LOUIS — Dakota Hudson pitched six innings of one-hit ball and hit a two-run single for his first big league RBIs, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rout the San Francisco Giants 10-0 on Thursday to open a three-game lead over the second-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.
Paul DeJong hit an early two-run homer, and Paul Goldschmidt singled and scored twice for the Cardinals, who for the sixth time in seven games.
San Francisco has lost five of six and eight of 10, dropping nine games back for the NL's second wild card at 67-73.
Hudson (15-6) allowed a one-out single in the second to Kevin Pillar and walked Brandon Crawford, then retired 14 of his final 15 batters. He has won five straight starts.
Génesis Cabrera finished the four-hitter for his first big league save.
Logan Webb (1-1) allowed eight runs — seven earned — eight hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings.
Tommy Edman doubled leading off and scored on Paul Goldschmidt's one-out single in a three-run first capped by DeJong's career-best 26 homer.
St. Louis blew open the game with a five-run third that included a pair of miscues by the Giants. Matt Carpenter reached on a run-scoring infield single when first baseman Brandon Belt lost track of the bag on a throw from second baseman Mauricio Dubón. Crawford allowed Edman's grounder to shortstop to bounce off his glove for an error.
Hudson's single chased Webb and boosted the lead to 7-0.
Rangel Ravelo hit his first career homer, a two-run drive in the eighth against Kyle Barraclough.
REDBIRD ROYALTY
Yadier Molina extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI single in the third. The hit was Molina's 1,947th, tying Ozzie Smith for seventh in franchise history.
BASE BURGLERS
Randy Arozarena swiped his first career base in the second inning, giving St. Louis 96 steals this season. St. Louis has not reached triple digits since getting 111 in 2004.
TRAINING ROOM
Giants: RHP Reyes Moronta (right shoulder strain) was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Cardinals: C Matt Wieters (calf strain) took batting practice and resumed throwing and hopes to resume full baseball activities in the next week.
UP NEXT
Giants: RHP Jeff Samardzija (9-11, 3.61 ERA) start a three-game series on Friday at the Los Angeles Dodgers, who start LHP Clayton Kershaw (13-4, 2.96 ERA). Samardzija is 0-3 with a 4.21 ERA in five appearances at Dodger Stadium.
Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (8-13, 4.32 ERA) starts Friday at Pittsburgh and RHP Joe Musgrove (9-12, 4.67 ERA). Mikolas has 10 outings with no walks.
