Cardinals 4, Royals 0
ST. LOUIS -- This round of the I-70 Series went to St. Louis. More accurately, it went to Jaime Garcia.
The Cardinals' starting pitcher tossed eight shutout innings in his longest outing since 2013 and even chipped in an RBI hit Friday night to earn a 4-0 win over the Kansas City Royals at sold-out Busch Stadium.
In improving to 2-3, Garcia gave up just four hits -- all infield singles -- and walked none while fanning six. The only hit from a right-handed batter came from center fielder Lorenzo Cain with two outs in the sixth.
Lowering his earned-run average to 2.06, Garcia also stretched his streak of not allowing a walk to 30 innings, dating back to a 5-0 loss on May 21 at the New York Mets.
St. Louis left fielder Randal Grichuk went 2-for-4, tripling home right fielder Jason Heyward during a two-run eighth inning and then scoring when center fielder Jon Jay lofted a sacrifice fly.
The Cardinals upped their major league-best record to 40-21 and are 23-7 at home. Kansas City (34-24) saw its four-game winning streak end.
Royals starter Yordano Ventura (3-6) left after the third inning with weakness in his right hand. Ventura gave up four hits and two runs, walking one and fanning two.
NOTES: St. Louis on Friday put RHP Lance Lynn (right forearm strain) on the 15-day disabled list. Lynn is 4-4 with a 3.07 ERA in 12 starts covering 73 1/3 innings. ... Kansas City on Thursday activated C Erik Kratz from a rehab assignment at Triple-A Omaha and then designated him for assignment, opting to keep Drew Butera as the backup to starter Salvador Perez. ... The Cardinals will replace Lynn in the rotation on Saturday with LHP Tyler Lyons, who was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. Lyons started three games for St. Louis last month and fanned 17 in 13 innings, getting no-decisions in each game.