ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Dustin May pitched a one-hit shutout, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday night at Busch Stadium III.

May scattered one hit and struck out nine over a complete-game masterpiece that required only 2 hours, 8 minutes to complete. The right-hander walked one batter and did not allow a runner past second base until the seventh inning, when San Diego finally produced its only hit. May needed 98 pitches to carve through the Padres’ lineup, lowering his season earned-run average to 3.42 and improving his record to 5-6.

The Cardinals improved to 39-31, while the Padres fell to 37-34. The attendance was 26,973.

San Diego managed only one hit all night, a leadoff single by Manny Machado in the seventh inning. The Padres never advanced a runner to third base after that, as May induced a double play from Gavin Sheets to end the inning and then retired the final six batters in order.

Lucas Giolito started for San Diego and took the loss, falling to 2-2. He worked five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Giolito retired the first seven batters he faced before Jordan Walker singled to left field with one out in the second inning. The Cardinals loaded the bases later in that inning on a Lars Nootbaar single, but Giolito escaped when Masyn Winn lined out and Jimmy Crooks flied out.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Nootbaar singled to left field on a line drive deflected by third baseman Will Wagner. Masyn Winn followed with a ground-ball single that deflected off Giolito’s glove and caromed to second baseman Sung-Mun Song, putting runners at first and second. Jimmy Crooks then doubled to center field, scoring both Nootbaar and Winn to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

The Cardinals added another run in the fifth inning. Nathan Church drew a leadoff walk, but JJ Wetherholt grounded into a double play. Ivan Herrera walked, and Alec Burleson doubled to right field, driving in Herrera for a 3-0 advantage. Burleson finished 1-for-4 with the RBI double.

May’s dominance continued after the early offensive support. He retired 10 straight Padres hitters from the second inning through the start of the seventh. Fernando Tatis Jr. drew a two-out walk in the seventh, and Machado followed with a single to left field, putting runners at the corners. But May got Sheets to ground into a 6-4-3 double play, ending the inning and any hope of a Padres rally.

May then set down the next six batters in order, striking out three in the final two innings. He finished with nine strikeouts, matching his previous start’s total. In his last outing June 9 at the New York Mets, May threw six scoreless innings with six strikeouts in a 7-0 win. On June 2 against Texas, he allowed three runs over 5⅔ innings in a loss.

Kyle Hart and Wandy Peralta worked scoreless relief for the Padres. Hart pitched two innings, allowing one hit and striking out one. Peralta threw a perfect eighth inning with one strikeout.

San Diego’s offense, which had scored five runs in a win at Baltimore on Sunday, could not carry that momentum into Monday. The Padres managed only one hit after totaling 17 hits in their previous two games combined. The shutout was San Diego’s fourth of the season.

The Padres return to Busch Stadium on Tuesday for the second game of the series, with right-hander Joe Musgrove scheduled to start for San Diego. St. Louis will counter with right-hander Miles Mikolas.

The Cardinals took the season series opener, but the Padres had won three of four head-to-head meetings earlier this season at Petco Park in San Diego from May 7-10. St. Louis won the first game of that series 2-1 before the Padres answered with a 4-2 win, a 6-0 Cardinals victory, and a 3-2 Padres win.

May’s complete game was the first by a Cardinals pitcher this season. He allowed a single to Machado and a walk to Tatis but otherwise dominated a Padres lineup that entered the game batting .252 as a team.

St. Louis outhit San Diego 8-1. Nootbaar went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Winn contributed a 2-for-4 night with a run. Crooks drove in the two biggest runs of the game with his fourth-inning double. Walker singled twice in four at-bats.

The game’s decisive inning was the fourth, when the Cardinals strung together three consecutive hits to break the scoreless tie. After Giolito had retired the first two batters of the inning, Nootbaar’s single and Winn’s infield single set the stage for Crooks, who delivered the game’s most impactful swing.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of St. Louis 7, San Diego 4, and Interstat’s ELO system had given the Cardinals a 50.4 percent probability to win. St. Louis was installed as a 1.5-run favorite, and the total of 3 runs went over the over-under line of 8.5.