The St. Louis Cardinals have gotten their offense in gear.

After scoring eight runs over the final three innings of an 11-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday, the Cardinals set a season high in runs and hits (17) on Friday in a 17-1 romp over the rival Chicago Cubs.

The Cardinals will look to set off more offensive fireworks and capture a series win in the rematch vs. the Cubs on Saturday night at Wrigley Field.

“Love coming to this park, and to do what we did was awesome,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said after his team ran roughshod on Friday. “… Overall, regardless of score, they were taking really gritty at-bats. They weren’t giving anything away. We find different ways to win. Today, we definitely slugged.”

Masyn Winn joined Nathan Church in hitting a three-run homer, and Bryan Torres also went deep for the Cardinals, who scored only one run in a loss to the Braves on Wednesday. Winn and Alec Burleson each drove in four runs on Friday, and Blaze Jordan matched Ivan Herrera with three hits.

“It was a blast. I heard it was gonna be rowdy and a lot of fun. So, to come out on top like that, it was a lot of fun,” Jordan told STL Sports Central. ” … We’re just trying to keep this thing rolling.”

The Cubs were rolling into the series opener on the strength of a 23-3 shellacking of the San Diego Padres on Wednesday, They belted eight homers in that contest, including three by Dansby Swanson and two by Michael Conforto.

Swanson, however, went 0-for-2 and Conforto was hitless in four at-bats on Friday as Chicago found itself on the wrong end of a lopsided result.

Alex Bregman’s RBI double in the seventh inning accounted for the Cubs’ lone run. He had two of his team’s seven hits.

Cardinals right-hander Kyle Leahy (6-4, 4.09 ERA) will start on Saturday opposite Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga (5-6, 4.30).

Leahy recorded his first win since May 16 after allowing one run on two hits in five innings of a 2-1 victory over the Miami Marlins on Sunday.

Leahy, 29, has a 3.18 ERA in 10 career appearances (two starts) vs. Chicago. He yielded one run on six hits in 4 1/3 innings in his team’s 6-1 loss to the Cubs on May 30.

Imanaga returns to the mound after pocketing a no-decision on Monday, when he permitted two runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings against the San Diego Padres. Chicago won 3-2.

“I thought Shota pitched great,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after that outing. “We desperately needed the length. For him to get into the seventh inning just meant everything, and with the chance to win the game meant everything.”

Imanaga was shelled in his last encounter vs. St. Louis, surrendering three homers and five runs total in 5 1/3 innings of a 6-5 setback on May 29.

Imanaga, 32, is 2-2 with a 3.82 ERA in five career appearances (all starts) against St. Louis.

–Field Level Media

In the midst of a four-game losing streak, the Los Angeles Angels now must face one of the hottest starting pitchers in baseball in Boston’s Sonny Gray on Saturday night.

Gray (9-1, 2.69 ERA) hasn’t lost a game since April 14 at Minnesota and is 7-0 with a 2.08 ERA in his last 10 starts. He comes in off a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday night that saw him throw 7 1/3 no-hit innings before yielding a sinking line drive single to Amed Rosario.

It was the deepest no-hit bid of Gray’s career, and the longest by a Red Sox pitcher since Garrett Crochet also tossed 7 1/3 hitless innings against the Chicago White Sox on April 13, 2025.

“God, it was really good,” Boston interim manager Chad Tracy said. “It really was. I legitimately thought he was gonna do it.”

Gray also struck out nine to hit the 2,000 mark for his career.

“It was cool, but I was just trying to win the game,” Gray said of the no-hit bid. “I just felt really focused. I wanted to come and win the game. We did that.”

Gray, tied for the American League lead in wins with nine, is 6-5 with a 3.92 ERA in 18 career appearances (17 starts) against the Angels.

Boston started the series and a nine-game road trip with a 5-2 victory on Friday. Rookie left-hander Jake Bennett opened the contest with 4 1/3 perfect innings and allowed two runs on five hits over 7 2/3 frames while striking out six.

Aroldis Chapman picked up his 17th save and fanned Denzer Guzman to open the bottom of the ninth with a 98-mph sinker for his 1,364th career strikeout, breaking the all-time reliever strikeout record set by Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm.

“I feel very happy, very proud with what I’ve been able to accomplish,” Chapman said through an interpreter. “I just feel very satisfied right now.”

Chapman accomplished the feat in 890 games while Wilhelm set the mark in 1,018 relief appearances.

Left-hander Sam Aldegheri (3-3, 4.85) will make his 11th career start for Los Angeles. Aldegheri allowed one run on five hits and struck out four over five innings in picking up the win in a 4-1 victory over the Athletics on Sunday.

Aldegheri will be making his second career appearance against the Red Sox. He was charged with a blown save when he allowed two unearned runs in 2 1/3 innings in a 11-9 loss on June 4 last season at Boston.

The Angels could be without starting catcher Logan O’Hoppe for the contest. O’Hoppe, who has battled concussion issues in the past, left Saturday’s game dazed in the third inning after taking a foul tip off his mask. He still was being evaluated after the game.

“I think this may have been the third one in three or four days,” Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki, a longtime big league catcher, said of the foul ball off the mask. “Definitely not ideal. We don’t really know yet. We’ve got to kind of see what the tests show with the doctor. After the doctor looks at him, we’ve got to see where we’re at.”

-Field Level Media

June was not kind to Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly.

He will aim to get off to a better start in July when he takes the mound on Saturday evening in the second game of a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers in Phoenix.

Kelly (5-8, 5.84 ERA) lost all five of his starts last month while posting a 7.31 ERA. Those results were in stark contrast to May, when he went 4-1 in with a 3.49 ERA.

“I’m starting to run out of words for how bad I’ve been this year,” he said. “Just keep pounding the pavement, keep going back to the drawing board, and keep working with the coaches, and trust that we’re going to figure something out to turn it around.”

The offense hasn’t helped much in the games Kelly pitched in June, combining for just four runs in his five starts.

Kelly most recently gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings of a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. Arizona bounced back to win its next two games following that loss but still hasn’t won more than two in a row since a five-game winning streak May 23-27.

The Diamondbacks lost the series opener against the Brewers on Friday night, 7-4 in 11 innings.

“Obviously, we’re not playing up to our ability,” Kelly said. “Normally, I feel like I’ve prided myself on being the one who can stop a slide or get us moving in the right direction, and this year, I have not been able to do that.”

The Diamondbacks sent Kelly to the Texas Rangers at last season’s trade deadline and then re-signed him to a two-year, $40 million free-agent deal in the offseason.

Kelly said he feels he still has much to prove.

“I know we’ve still got half the season left, but as a whole on the year, definitely the most frustrating, the poorest results. [The] poorest I’ve felt, definitely, and the least I feel like I’m doing my job,” Kelly said. “The numbers are what they are, but not doing what the team needs me to do, what the team counts on me to do every fifth day.”

Kelly has had success against the Brewers in his career, going 5-3 with a 3.41 ERA in 11 starts. He lost to them on April 28 after surrendering five runs and six hits over five innings in a 13-2 defeat in Milwaukee.

The Brewers plan to start veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff on Saturday.

Woodruff (2-1, 2.59 ERA) has been nearly flawless in his first two outings since missing nearly two months because of right shoulder inflammation.

In his first game back, the two-time All-Star blanked the Cincinnati Reds on one hit over six innings in his team’s 2-1 win in 10 innings on June 22. Woodruff followed that effort with a nearly identical outing, allowing just one hit over 5 2/3 shutout innings against the Chicago Cubs last Sunday.

He again was denied a win because the game went into extra innings, where the Brewers lost 4-3 in 10.

Woodruff has 16 strikeouts and just two walks in his past two games. He said he’s looking forward to taking the baton for a team that’s won four of its past five games and nine of 12.

“The pitching staff, we’ve got some big-time arms,” Woodruff said. “We’ve played some good baseball. We’ve got to keep steady, keep staying positive and be consistent.”

Woodruff has made nine appearances against Arizona in his career, including eight starts, and is 3-1 with a 4.65 ERA.

–Field Level Media