SEATTLE — — Lars Nootbaar homered on the first pitch of the game, Nolan Gorman added a three-run shot and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Seattle Mariners 7-3 Sunday to prevent a three-game sweep.
Paul DeJong also went deep in his season debut and Jack Flaherty recovered from early trouble to pitch six solid innings for St. Louis.
Gorman’s three-run homer to right-center put the Cardinals up 6-3 in the fourth. He has six home runs and an NL-leading 14 two-out RBI this season.
Flaherty (2-2) fell behind 3-2 in the second, but held the Mariners to one hit over the final 4 1/3 innings of his six-inning stint. He struck out nine with two walks, throwing 104 pitches.
LHP Jordan Montgomery (2-2, 4.84 ERA) starts Monday in the first of four games at San Francisco, 7:50 with the pregame and the first pitch at 8:45 on KIRX.