Matthew Liberatore didn’t allow a run in a career-best eight innings, Andrew Knizner and Tommy Edman homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 on Thursday night.

St. Louis won two of three in the series with Tampa Bay, the AL wild-card leader.

Liberatore (2-4) was part of a January 2020 trade between Tampa Bay and St. Louis that sent 2023 All-Star outfielder Randy Arozarena to the Rays. In his second start since being called up from Triple-A Memphis, Liberatore gave up two hits and had a career-high seven strikeouts as he bids for a fulltime rotation spot.

Liberatore retired his final 14 batters, and received a standing ovation from a large group of Cardinals’ fans behind the St. Louis dugout walking off the field after the eighth inning. He picked Wander Franco off second in the fourth after a leadoff single, the last hit the lefty gave up.

The Rays scored twice on two hits, including Franco’s RBI triple, against JoJo Romero in the ninth.

Tampa Bay starter Zack Littell (2-3), recently inserted into the rotation, allowed three runs and seven hits over six innings.

Knizner put the Cardinals up 2-0 in fourth with a two-run shot.

Edman had a ninth-inning solo drive.

St. Louis went ahead 3-0 when Nolan Arenado, who was running on the pitch, scored from first base on Alec Burleson’s ground-ball single to center.