St. Louis built a commanding lead through six innings and weathered a late Texas surge to defeat the Rangers 5-3 at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals scored in four of the first six innings to establish control before holding on for the victory.
Andre Pallante earned the win with 5.2 innings of work, allowing 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 5. The right-hander walked 2 and threw 85 pitches to improve to 6-4 with a 4.10 ERA. Riley O'Brien secured his 15th save with a scoreless ninth inning.
Alec Burleson drove the Cardinals offense with 3 RBIs on 2-for-4 hitting. He opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single that brought Walker home, then delivered the decisive blow in the third with a two-run double that scored Velázquez and Walker. Thomas Saggese added an RBI triple in the fifth that brought Fermín home, and Velázquez capped the Cardinals scoring in the sixth with an RBI single that scored Walker.
MacKenzie Gore took the loss for Texas, allowing 4 runs on 9 hits over 4.2 innings. The left-hander struck out 5 but walked 3 and threw 100 pitches to fall to 4-5 with a 4.23 ERA. The Rangers mounted a late threat in the seventh when Joc Pederson tripled home both Foscue and Higashioka to cut the deficit to 5-3, but could not get closer.
St. Louis snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 31-28. Texas saw its five-game winning streak end as the Rangers fell to 30-31. Pederson sits two doubles away from 200 career doubles.