Miller pitches six strong frames, M’s beat Cardinals 6-1 for third straight win

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dylan Moore homered and Bryce Miller pitched six scoreless innings as the Seattle Mariners extended their winning streak to three games with a 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Seattle Mariners 6, St. Louis Cardinals 1: Box score

Miller (11-8) allowed three hits and two walks and struck out four batters. The 26-year-old right-hander leads the American League with nine starts of at least six innings without allowing an earned run.

“He’s just so calm and collected out there,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He just continues to throw up zeroes, and I thought he had good stuff again tonight, a good breaking ball, from time to time it really was outstanding. He just continues to do what we preach, and that’s control the strike zone, dominate the zone and stay ahead of the hitters. When he can do that and has good defense behind him like he has been, he’s really really difficult.”

Jordan Walker hit his second homer of the season off Troy Taylor in the seventh inning for the Cardinals’ run.

Cal Raleigh hit a two-run double in Seattle’s three-run ninth inning, giving him 89 RBIs this season. Raleigh holds the Mariners’ single-season record for RBIs by a catcher after passing Wilson’s previous mark of 83 on Tuesday at Oakland.

“Getting three runs in the ninth, that’s big,” Wilson said. “It takes a lot of pressure off our pitching staff. That’s all huge, and it all adds up. It’s the little things. We’ve talked about that a lot. We’ve played a lot of close games, so little things make a big difference, and adding on late is huge.”

With J.P. Crawford on base, Moore hit his 10th home run of the season on the first pitch he saw from Matthew Liberatore in the sixth inning, giving Seattle a 3-0 lead.

“I think all together, as a group, we simplified a bunch of stuff,” Crawford said. “I feel like everyone’s going into each at-bat just relaxed and calm and ready to damage. We all have a plan, and these last couple games, the plan’s been simple. I think everyone’s bought into that, and the last couple of games, the offense has been really good.”

Victor Robles was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning and scored on Randy Arozarena’s sacrifice fly to center, giving Seattle a 1-0 lead and ending Cardinals starter Erick Fedde’s night.

Fedde (8-9) allowed one run on five hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. The 31-year-old righty is 1-5 with a 4.30 ERA in nine starts since being acquired by the Cardinals on July 30.

“He wasn’t as sharp as he probably would have liked,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He still competed extremely well. He pitched with traffic, but made pitches when needed and limited damage. His stuff wasn’t as crisp as we’ve seen it in the past, but still was able to navigate the lineup and give us a shot.”

Julio Rodríguez singled and was initially called out trying to steal second base with two outs. Wilson challenged the call and it was overturned. Rodríguez stole his 21st base of the season as Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan was late applying the tag on Pedro Pagés’ throw that beat the runner to the bag.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (right knee inflammation) is scheduled to start on Wednesday versus Cincinnati. LHP Steven Matz, who started Tuesday in Milwaukee, will likely be available out of the bullpen starting Sunday. … 3B Nolan Arenado was pulled for pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“He took that one swing early,” Marmol said. “Something grabbed at him. Left shoulder, he was starting to feel it a little bit as the game went on. He went out for defense, came in around the seventh and got some work done on it. But to take another at-bat was going to be difficult regardless of score.”

UP NEXT

Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert (7-10, 3.19 ERA) will make his first career appearance against St. Louis, which starts RHP Kyle Gibson (8-6, 4.39 ERA) Saturday night.

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