EditorsNote: adds to fourth graf
Dakota Hudson held the visiting Milwaukee Brewers hitless for 6 2/3 innings Monday night, propelling the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-0 victory.
Hudson (12-6) exited with a no-hitter intact with two outs in the seventh inning after walking Eric Thames with his 111th pitch. Yasmani Grandal ended the combined no-hitter one inning later with a two-out double off reliever Giovanny Gallegos.
Cardinals reliever Andrew Miller got the last out in the eighth inning with the bases loaded, then closed out the game in the ninth to earn his fifth save.
The division-leading Cardinals won for the eighth time in 10 games to move three games ahead of the third-place Brewers in the National League Central. The second-place Chicago Cubs, who were idle Monday, are a half-game back.
The Brewers have lost five of their past seven games.
Hudson had seven strikeouts but allowed four walks, including two to Christian Yelich. He has pitched 12 2/3 scoreless innings in his past two starts.
Yelich later got an intentional walk from Miller in the eighth inning to load the bases. He came into the game hitting .387 against the Cardinals with eight homers and 19 RBIs this season, and .318 with 17 homers and 48 RBIs in 47 career games against them.
After allowing 30 runs in their previous two games, the Brewers needed better starting pitching, and they got it from Zach Davies.
He came off the injured list after recovering from back stiffness. To accommodate his return, the Brewers optioned pitcher Aaron Wilkerson to Triple-A San Antonio.
Davies (8-6) held the Cardinals scoreless until the fifth inning.
Matt Carpenter drew a leadoff walk, raced to third on Yadier Molina's hit-and-run single into right field and scored when Kolten Wong grounded into a forceout.
Wong moved up on Hudson's sacrifice bunt and scored on Dexter Fowler's RBI single to push the Cardinals' lead to 2-0.
Paul DeJong made it 3-0 with a solo home run against reliever Devin Williams in the sixth inning. It was his 22nd homer of the season.
Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain remained out of the starting lineup due to an oblique muscle strain. He came off the bench in the sixth inning and struck out as a pinch hitter.
--Field Level Media
