Nolan Arenado drove in three runs as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Sunday in Phoenix for their seventh consecutive victory.

Jake Woodford (2-0), the third of five Cardinals pitchers, earned the victory. Giovanny Gallegos closed out the ninth for his 12th save.

Cardinals starting pitcher Jose Quintana lasted just 2 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits and three walks.

St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol was ejected in the third inning for protesting ball-and-strike calls by umpire C.B. Bucknor.

Starting pitcher Merrill Kelly allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings for the Diamondbacks, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. Kelly struck out six batters and walked three.

Reliever Joe Mantiply (1-4) took the loss.

The Cardinals broke out to a 3-0 first-inning lead. Lars Nootbaar hit a leadoff homer, then singles by Brendan Donovan, Paul Goldschmidt and Arenado produced another run.

The third run scored on Nolan Gorman’s double-play grounder.

The Diamondbacks tied the game 3-3 in the second inning. Stone Garrett hit a leadoff single, Josh Rojas walked and Jake McCarthy hit a one-out RBI single.

Carson Kelly walked with two outs to load the bases. Emmanuel Rivera hit an infield single to drive in one run and Donovan’s throwing error from third base allowed another run to score.

Arizona took a 4-3 lead in the third inning. Christian Walker hit a leadoff single and Garrett reached on catcher’s interference. With two outs, Jordan Luplow hit an RBI single.

The Cardinals surged ahead 5-4 in the seventh inning. Andrew Knizner hit a leadoff single and Albert Pujols hit a one-out, pinch-hit single off Mantiply.

Kevin Ginkel relieved Mantiply and hit Goldschmidt to load the bases before allowing Arenado’s two-run base hit.

The Cardinals made it 6-4 in the eighth inning on walks to Knizner and Nootbaar and Tommy Edman’s RBI single.

–Field Level Media