May 17—ST. LOUIS — Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong gave an elated fist pump as he rounded first base in the sixth inning, having just watched the ball he crushed land 419 feet away from home plate — where it could be retrieved but not caught — for a tworun home run to give his team breathing room against one of the stingiest starting pitchers in the majors.

DeJong’s show of elation after his fifth home run of the season gave the Cardinals a three-run lead came with an element of redemption. He’d struck out with the bases loaded against Milwaukee Brewers ace and former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes in his previous at-bat, and the Cardinals left the bases loaded without scoring a run in that inning.

That missed opportunity seemed sure to loom large down the stretch against Burnes, until DeJong’s homer in the sixth.

Instead, the Cardinals pitching staff made those runs stand up as they collected a 3-0 win over the Brewers in the rubber match of a three-game set in front of an announced crowd of 35,433 at Busch Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Cardinals took two of three games from the NL Central Division-leading Brewers to win their third consecutive series. They’ve now won 8 of their last 10 games.

DeJong’s homer came on the same type of pitch, a cutter, in a similar location that Burnes froze him on for strike three in their previous matchup.

It gave the Cardinals’ bullpen a cushion to work with as relievers Andrew Pallante, Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley put the finishing touches on the club’s fourth shutout of the season in relief of left-hander Matthrew Liberatore.

Brendan Donovan, who was on base for the DeJong homer, went 2-for-4. Nolan Gorman extended the longest hitting streak of his career to eight games. Nolan Arenado’s streak of consecutive games with a home run stopped at five, but he reached a career milestone with his first-inning RBI.

Libertore delivers a strong start

Liberatore, recalled from Triple-A Memphis prior to the game (James Naile was optioned to Memphis), made his first start in the majors this season.

The top-performing member of the Triple-A rotation, Liberatore had gone 4-1 with a 3.13 ERA in eight starts in the minors this season. The Cardinals announced Tuesday night that they’d start Liberatore, push veteran Adam Wainwright’s start back one day and go to a six-man rotation.

Liberatore held the Brewers scoreless over five innings. He struck out six, walked three and allowed three hits to earn the win.

Arenado joins exclusive club Arenado drove in the game’s first run with a first-inning infield single to third base.

The RBI pushed his career total to 1,000 through 1,426 games in the majors, and it also made him just the third primary third baseman since 1920 with at least 300 home runs and 1,000 RBIs in fewer than 1,500 career games. He joined Hall of Famers Eddie Matthews (376 home runs, 1,010 RBIs) and Chipper Jones (301 home runs, 1,002 RBIs) as the only players with that distinction in MLB history.

Arenado entered the day having homered in five consecutive games, one shy of the longest streak of his career.

In his previous seven games, Arenado went 12-for-29 with six extra-base hits and 13 RBIs. He’d slashed .414/.438/1.000 in that stretch with as many home runs as strikeouts (five each).

That all came on the heels of a sub-par offensive start to the season for the seven-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger Award winner. Through his first 28 games (27 starts) of this season, he slashed .239/.281/.319 before his recent turnaround.

Gorman’s glove is also clutch With the Cardinals holding a 1-0 edge in the third inning and a runner on third, second baseman Nolan Gorman made a run-saving defensive gem of a play when he ranged to the shortstop side of the second base bag, scooped a grounder and threw a one-hop strike to first — by the time he let the ball go he was in the typical shortstop position — to get the batter Willy Adames by a fraction of a second to end the inning and prevent the runner from scoring from third base.

He preserved the scoreless outing for his longtime friend and Cardinals starter Liberatore.

The two played against each other in high school in Arizona, and they were teammates growing up and on the Goldmedal winning Team USA club in the 2017 World Cup.

The inning after Gorman’s great defensive play kept a run from scoring, Tyrone Taylor hit a deep drive to center field initially called a home run. However upon replay review, officials ruled the ball hit the top of the padding on the outfield wall and then caromed back into play. Taylor was awarded a two-out double, and Liberatore struck out the next batter to keep the Brewers scoreless through four innings.

Cardinals left money on the table in the fourth Leading 1-0, the Cardinals squandered a scoring opportunity in the fourth inning against Burnes, who entered the day with a 3.35 ERA in eight starts this season.

Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young winner, gave up three consecutive singles to start the inning. Willson Contreras smacked a single to right field followed by an infield single to second base by Brendan Donovan on a slow roller and a bunt single to second base by Alec Burleson.

With bases loaded and no outs, Burnes fell behind in the count to DeJong 2-0 but rebounded and struck DeJong out on a called third strike. Burnes then struck out Tommy Edman swinging. Lars Nootbaar hit a soft dribbler between the mound and home plate that Brewers catcher Victor Cararini scooped up and threw to first for an inning-ending force out.

One night after the Brewers saw starter Wade Miley leave the game in the second inning due to a lat injury, Burnes made it through five innings on 71 pitches. He’d allowed just one run in the first inning, and seemed poised to give the Brewers bullpen a needed rest while holding the Cardinals offense in check until DeJong got to him in the sixth inning.