It was the St. Louis Cardinals’ turn to get shutout on Thursday. One night after defeating the Miami Marlins 2-0 on a Nolan Arenado home run in the ninth inning, the Cardinals offense was silenced by Marlins starting pitcher Pablo López.
López threw nine strikeouts in seven shutout innings. Three of those strikeouts were against Albert Pujols. His 0.52 ERA in three starts this season leads the majors.
The Marlins offense looked like it was going to deliver another lackluster performance. Their only two runs scored through five innings were on uncharacteristic fielding mistakes by the Cardinals: an error by shortstop Paul DeJong on an attempted double play that allowed Jesús Sánchez to score from third base in the second inning, and a passed ball by catcher Yadier Molina in the fourth inning that allowed Sánchez score from third again.