Cardinals starter Sonny Gray spun perfectly through his first look at the San Francisco lineup, allowed one ball out of the infield as he blitzed through four innings and appeared to have the makings of a special, dominant afternoon at his fingertips.

Until he didn’t.

As quickly as he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, Gray’s outing started to wobble quicker as three walks and two singles meant he would not finish the sixth inning.

“That’s my season in a nutshell,” he said. “Really, really good. One really bad.”

It helped that the game was also the Cardinals’ season in a nutshell.

Superb defense helped Gray take his shutout into the sixth and assisted Riley O’Brien to get through the ninth. The Cardinals relied on two other traits they’ve had to have to win this summer: a strong

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