St. Louis built its margin early and made it stand. Andre Pallante gave the Cardinals exactly what they needed Monday night at Busch Stadium, and Riley O'Brien closed it out as Arizona pulled within one but could not complete the comeback in a 3-2 Cardinals win.
Pallante worked six innings, allowing 6 hits and 1 run while walking none and striking out 2 on 85 pitches. He picked up his ninth win against four losses, carrying a 3.70 ERA. O'Brien followed with a clean ninth — no hits, no walks — to record his 19th save of the season.
St. Louis did its damage in the third and fourth innings. Nathan Church scored in the third when Alec Burleson reached on an infield single to second, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, Lars Nootbaar scored on a Blaze Jordan sacrifice fly to center, and Church then singled to left to bring home Masyn Winn, pushing the lead to 3-0. Church finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. Burleson drove in one run on 1-for-2 hitting.
Arizona chipped away but never caught up. Corbin Carroll scored in the sixth when Nolan Arenado grounded out to shortstop, cutting the deficit to two. Tommy Troy then hit a 444-foot home run to center in the seventh to make it 2-3, but that was as close as the Diamondbacks would get. Merrill Kelly took the loss, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings, falling to 5-7 with a 5.71 ERA. Troy finished 1-for-4 with the homer and 1 RBI.
St. Louis moved to 41-34 with the victory. Arizona dropped to 39-38, extending its losing streak to two games.