Friday’s Game Report: Cardinals 5, Guardians 0
By Rob Rains
Sonny Gray was one pitch away from perfection on Friday night.
The Cardinals’ righthander allowed only one baserunner, on a clean single to right field by Nolan Jones with two outs in the fifth inning, in the win over the Guardians in Cleveland.
Gray struck out a season-high 11 batters and needed only 89 pitches to throw his first complete game since 2017 and his first shutout since 2015.
He became the first Cardinal pitcher to throw a shutout with less than 90 pitches since Adam Wainwright allowed just two hits in an 88-pitch shutout over the Pirates in 2021.
It was also the first 1-hit shutout for the Cardinals since Jordan Montgomery did it against the Cubs in 2022.
Gray retired the first 14 hitters before Jones’ single, then retired the final 13 hitters to complete the gem.
He got all of the runs of support he needed on home runs from Pedro Pages and Alec Burleson in the third inning.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Pages snapped the Cardinals scoring drought at 24 innings with his leadoff homer in the third … Burleson added his 10th homer of the year, a two-run shot, later in the inning … Burleson doubled in his next at-bat in the sixth and scored on a two-out double by Nolan Arenado which snapped his 0-of-14 streak … The final run scored in the eighth when Willson Contreras and Lars Nootbaar walked with two outs and Arenado drove in Contreras with a single. Arenado had driven in only one run in his previous six games.
On the mound: Of Gray’s 89 pitches, he threw 66 for strikes. The 11 strikeouts were the most in his career since a 13-strikeout game in 2023 … Gray only allowed six balls that got out of the infield, including a fly out to the warning track with one out in the ninth … The last two times a Cardinal pitcher threw a one-hit shutout on less than 100 pitches were both by Chris Carpenter, in 2009 and 2005, when he recorded 10 strikeouts in each game … The last pitcher in the majors to throw a shutout on 90 or fewer pitches was Max Fried of the Braves in 2021.
Key stat: The two hits by Burleson gave him 31 for the month of June, the most he has had in any month of his career. Burleson is 31-of-92, a .337 average, with six homers and 19 RBIs with three games left in the month.
Worth noting: Nootbaar was in the lineup after missing the previous two games against the Cubs when he was sidelined after receiving an anti-inflammatory injection in his rib cage. Nootbaar was hitless in his first three at-bats before drawing a walk … Jose Barrero, who had been designated for assignment, cleared waivers but is expected to reject an outright assignment to Memphis in favor of becoming a free agent … Jordan Walker, on the 10-day injured list because of appendicitis, could begin a rehab assignment with Memphis as early as Saturday night.
Up next: Miles Mikolas will get the start on Saturday in the second game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. St. Louis time.
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