ST. LOUIS — — Nolan Arenado and Jordan Walker homered in the first inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Oakland Athletics 6-2 on Tuesday night.
Arenado finished with four hits and Tommy Edman also homered for the resurgent Cardinals, who have won five of six.
Dakota Hudson (4-0) recorded his third successive win, allowing two runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings.
Arenado became the tenth third baseman in major league history to record 25 home runs in eight or more seasons.
INF Nolan Gorman missed his second successive game with lower back tightness. C Willson Contreras sat out with hip tightness suffered while running the bases in the third inning Monday night.
St. Louis LHP Matthew Liberatore (2-4, 5.72 ERA) will face Oakland RHP Paul Blackburn (2-3, 4.52) as the Cardinals seek a three-game sweep on Wednesday, 4:50 with the pregame and the first pitch at 5:45 on KIRX.