Hudson drives in two, wins 15th as Cards top Giants

[September 06, 2019]  Dakota Hudson won his fifth consecutive start and drove home two runs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the visiting San Francisco Giants 10-0 Thursday afternoon.

The Cardinals won their fifth consecutive series to extend a second-half surge. They have won six of their past eight games and 12 of their past 15.

Since falling below .500 at 44-45 on July 12, the Cardinals have gone 35-16 to climb into the National League Central lead.

The fading Giants lost for the eight time in their past 10 games.

Hudson (15-6) held the Giants scoreless on one hit through six innings. He's 9-2 with one no-decision in his past 12 starts.

Genesis Cabera pitched the final three innings for the Cardinals to earn his first career save.

Hudson helped his own cause with a two-run single in the third inning as the Cardinals scored five times to blow open the game. Those were the first RBIs of his big-league career.

Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer, his 26th of the season -- the most ever by a Cardinals shortstop -- in the first inning to open a 3-0 lead. Rangel Ravelo hit his first career homer, a two-run shot in the eighth inning.

Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Carpenter each added two hits and an RBI for the Cards.

Yadier Molina extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI single. That was Molina's 1,944th hit as a Cardinal, tying Ozzie Smith for seventh place on the franchise's all-time list.

Molina's appearance at catcher tied him with Jim Sundberg (1,927 games) for the ninth-most in major league history.

Cardinals starting pitcher Dakota Hudson (43) pitches against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Puetz-USA TODAY Sports

Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb (1-1) allowed eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings.

After that, both managers substituted freely. The Giants used 20 players with their expanded September roster and the Cardinals used 15 players.

On the injury front, X-rays were negative on the bruised wrist suffered by Giants reliever Tony Watson on Wednesday night.

--Field Level Media

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