ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Quinn Mathews carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, Alec Burleson and Leo Bernal each delivered an RBI single, and the St. Louis Cardinals held off the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on Monday night at Busch Stadium III.

Mathews, a 25-year-old rookie left-hander, was in control from the start. He struck out Jonah Cox to open the game, then retired Bryce Eldridge and Shay Whitcomb. He also worked a clean second inning, striking out Scott Bandura and getting two groundouts. Mathews retired the first 10 San Francisco batters before walking Eldridge with one out in the fourth. He did not allow a hit until Grant McCray doubled leading off the sixth. Mathews finished with eight strikeouts and allowed one run on four hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings. It was the longest of his seven major league starts. He improved to 2-3. In his previous outing on Sept. 8 at San Francisco, Mathews took a loss after allowing two earned runs on five hits over six innings with four strikeouts.

St. Louis scored both of its runs in the fifth. Thomas Saggese started the rally with a ground-ball single to center field. Iván Herrera followed with a walk, and Burleson lined a single to right field that scored Saggese. Jordan Walker walked to load the bases, and Bernal singled sharply to right field to drive in Herrera. Bernal went 3 for 4 with one RBI. Burleson also drove in a run, and Walker reached base with a walk. The Cardinals finished with eight hits. They grounded into two double plays, including one in the first inning when Herrera hit into a double play that erased Saggese, and another in the eighth when Ramón Urías grounded into a double play that also retired Bernal.

San Francisco starter Landen Roupp took the loss. Roupp dropped to 9-14 after allowing two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. The Giants bullpen followed with scoreless work. Joel Kuhnel pitched 1 2/3 innings without allowing a hit and struck out one. Trent Harris worked one scoreless inning with one strikeout. Carson Seymour added a scoreless inning while allowing one hit. Reiver Sanmartin also pitched and allowed two hits without recording an out. San Francisco pitchers combined for 20 strikes, 47 balls and 20 balls in play. St. Louis pitchers combined for nine strikes, 55 balls and nine balls in play.

The Cardinals had early chances against Roupp. In the first, Saggese singled but was erased on Herrera’s double play. Burleson walked and Walker struck out to end the inning. In the second, Bernal doubled to right, moved to third on Joshua Báez’s groundout, and was stranded when Nolan Gorman struck out and Nathan Church lined out. In the third, Burleson and Walker hit consecutive singles, but Bernal flied out to left to leave them on base. St. Louis finally broke through in the fifth.

San Francisco’s early innings produced little against Mathews. After Cox struck out in the first, Eldridge and Whitcomb were retired. In the fourth, Eldridge walked with one out, but Whitcomb and Turner Hill struck out swinging. The Giants went down in order in the fifth on a groundout by Brett Harris, a strikeout by Bandura and a groundout by Andrew Knizner. Mathews’ no-hit bid ended in the sixth when McCray doubled.

The Giants answered in the sixth. McCray doubled to right field to begin the inning, moved to third on Christian Koss’ groundout, and scored on Cox’s line-drive single to center field. That pulled San Francisco within one run. The Giants threatened again in the seventh. Whitcomb singled on a soft ground ball, and Turner Hill followed with a single to left. Brett Harris laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Whitcomb to third and Hill to second. Jung Hoo Lee flied out to right field for the second out. Andrew Knizner walked to load the bases, but McCray grounded out to shortstop to end the inning. In the eighth, Eldridge singled to left and Drew Gilbert walked, but Turner Hill lined out to third baseman Urías. In the ninth, Lee singled to right and Drew Cavanaugh walked, but Riley O’Brien struck out McCray and induced a game-ending groundout from Koss.

San Francisco finished with six hits, with Cox driving in the lone run. McCray doubled and scored. Whitcomb, Hill, Eldridge and Lee also singled. St. Louis had eight hits, led by Bernal’s three. Burleson drove in the first run, and Bernal drove in the second. The Cardinals’ bullpen combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings after Mathews left. Bruihl recorded the final out of the seventh, Stanek worked a scoreless eighth with two strikeouts, and O’Brien closed it out.

O’Brien earned his 37th save with one scoreless inning. He allowed one hit and struck out two. Ryne Stanek also pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Justin Bruihl recorded the final out of the seventh after Mathews departed. St. Louis improved to 75-76. San Francisco fell to 62-89. The game took 2 hours, 43 minutes and drew an announced attendance of 25,150.

The Giants had won three straight against the Cardinals earlier in September at San Francisco, taking games on Sept. 7, Sept. 8 and Sept. 9. The Cardinals had won their most recent series against the Chicago White Sox before opening this set. San Francisco had lost three straight to the San Diego Padres before arriving in St. Louis. The teams are scheduled to continue their series Tuesday and Wednesday at Busch Stadium III.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of St. Louis 5, San Francisco 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Cardinals a 57.7 percent probability to win. San Francisco had been installed as the pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 3 went over the over/under line of 8.