Miles Mikolas threw eight scoreless innings as the host St. Louis Cardinals edged the Kansas City Royals 2-1 Tuesday.

Mikolas (4-1) allowed just three hits and a walk while tying his career high with 10 strikeouts. Giovanny Gallegos survived Kansas City’s ninth-inning rally to earn his seventh save.

Nolan Arenado and Nolan Gorman drove in the runs for the Cardinals, who earned a split in the two-game series while playing their 19th games in 19 days.

Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke blanked the Cardinals for five innings while allowing just two hits and a walk. He struck out six.

Reliever Carlos Hernandez (0-2) took the loss as the Royals fell for the eighth time in 11 games.

Mikolas opened the game by hitting Nick Pratto and allowing Vinnie Pasquantino’s single. Pratto took third on a flyout, but Mikolas retired the next two batters.

The Royals threatened in the fourth inning after MJ Melendez reached on a fielder’s choice and took second on a wild pitch. But he was thrown out trying to score on Michael Massey’s single into right field to end the inning.

Alec Burleson hit a leadoff double in the fifth inning for St. Louis and took third on a wild pitch. But Greinke retired the next three hitters.

After failing to score in the first 14 innings of this series, the Cardinals finally broke through in the sixth off Hernandez. Paul Goldschmidt reached on an infield single and scored on Arenado’s double to put St. Louis up 1-0.

The Cardinals doubled their lead in the eighth inning after Tommy Edman walked and stole second base. Edman took third on Brendan Donovan’s single to center field and scored on Gorman’s sacrifice fly.

The Royals got one run back in the ninth inning. Pasquantino led off with a double, then moved to third on Salvador Perez’s single and scored on Bobby Witt Jr.’s fielder’s choice grounder.

Witt stole second base with two outs, but Gallegos struck out Massey to end the game.

–Field Level Media