PHOENIX (AP) — Miles Mikolas threw eight dominant innings, Paul Goldschmidt connected for his 30th homer of the season and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 on Friday night.
Nolan Arenado hit three doubles and a single while veteran catcher Yadier Molina added a season-high three hits and scored a run.
Goldschmidt also had three hits. He reached the 30-homer mark for the seventh time in his career, four of them for Arizona before being traded to the Cardinals.
Mikolas (10-9) gave up just one hit through seven shutout innings before the D-backs scratched across a run in the eighth. The right-hander gave up two hits, walked one, hit one batter and struck out four. He threw 108 pitches, including 70 strikes.
The Cardinals pushed their NL Central lead to four games over Milwaukee.
Goldschmidt slugged his solo homer in the first inning, connecting on a full-count pitch from rookie Tommy Henry for a drive that landed deep into the left field seats. The first baseman got plenty of applause, even on the road. He remains a crowd favorite in Arizona, where he was a six-time All-Star from 2011 to 2018.
The game remained tight until the seventh, when the Cardinals scored four times to increase their lead to 5-0. Arenado's double into the left-center gap brought home two runs while Goldschmidt added an RBI single on a sharp grounder that deflected off D-backs reliever Kevin Ginkel.
Henry (2-2) gave up one run on six hits through 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out seven, continuing a string of solid starts since being called up from Triple-A in July.
30 AGAIN
Goldschmidt has been remarkably consistent with at least 19 homers in all 10 of his full big league seasons. At 34, he's making a case for his first MVP award, hitting .339 with 96 RBIs while playing his usual stellar defense.
The two-time Gold Glover made a diving play on a grounder in the eighth, saving a potential extra-base hit.
Goldschmidt's career high for homers is 36, which he's hit in 2013 and 2017, both when he was a member of the Diamondbacks.
HEAT
St. Louis reliever Jordan Hicks threw a 103.7 mph sinker to Stone Garrett in the ninth.
ROSTER MOVES
Cardinals: RHP Ryan Helsley was put on paternity leave. LHP JoJo Romero was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. ... INF/OF Juan Yepez (right forearm strain) was activated from the 10-day IL and sent to Memphis.
UP NEXT
The teams meet again on Saturday night. The D-backs will throw LHP Madison Bumgarner (6-12, 4.37 ERA) against Cardinals RHP Dakota Hudson (6-6, 4.17).
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