Dustin May's best outing of season leads Cardinals past Red Sox

Dustin May pitched six solid innings as the St. Louis Cardinals edged the visiting Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Friday in the opener of a three-game weekend series.

Jordan Walker went 2-for-4 with a run to help lead St. Louis, which had an 8-5 advantage in hits and won its third straight game. Ramon Urias crossed the plate twice, and Jose Fermin knocked in the decisive run in the fifth inning.

May (1-2), who entered the game with a 15.95 ERA through two starts, allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and no walks. He struck out four.

Riley O'Brien pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to post his fourth save out of the Cardinals' bullpen, which allowed just one hit across three scoreless innings.

Wilyer Abreu went 2-for-4 and Trevor Story drove in a run and stole home for the Red Sox, whose two-game winning streak ended.

In the St. Louis second inning, Ramon Urias ripped a leadoff double off Ceddanne Rafaela's glove in deep center field, and the Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs. Boston starter Connelly Early limited the damage to just a single run, which scored on Victor Scott II's sacrifice fly.

Early ended the inning with a strikeout, just as he did in each of his four full frames. The southpaw threw 86 pitches in his 4 1/3-inning stint, striking out five while allowing one run on five hits and two walks.

After May set the Red Sox down in order for his first 1-2-3 inning of the season in the third, the Red Sox moved in front with a two-run fourth.

Masataka Yoshida led off with a line single to right, and after Abreu's one-out hit, Story plated the tying run on a fielder's-choice grounder. Story advanced to second on a throwing error on the play, and he moved to third on Marcelo Mayer's single before sliding home safely on a successful double steal.

Early departed after retiring the leadoff batter in the fifth, but the next three batters reached against Zack Kelly. St. Louis got a game-tying RBI single to left from Thomas Saggese, who entered the game after Masyn Winn got hit by a pitch. A wild pitch from Kelly moved put two runners into scoring position, and Fermin's sacrifice fly made it a 3-2 lead.

Kelly (0-1) yielded two runs in two-thirds of an inning.

May retired the last seven hitters he faced before reliever Ryne Stanek continued that trend in the seventh. Rafaela opened the eighth with a double inside the right field line, and Boston had runners on the corners with one out, but JoJo Romero stranded them.

--Field Level Media