The St Louis Cardinals plated five in the second inning to set the tone early, keeping the Rays at bay in a 7-4 win Thursday, Aug. 21 at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Bay.

It was a choppy start to the evening for Sonny Gray, who allowed a leadoff single to Chandler Simpson, then saw him advance to scoring position on a wild pitch. Brandon Lowe would bring Simpson home on a groundout. Gray would then allow a walk and single, but claim the final out. The Cardinals got to work in the next inning, drawing a leadoff single and walk, setting up a fielders choice that allowed Thomas Saggese to beat the throw to the plate and tie the game. Lars Nootbaar’s double scored Pedro Pagés and gave the Cardinals the lead for good. A hit by pitch and then wild pitch scored another run, setting up a two-run RBI single by Alec Burleson to cap the second inning.

Tampa Bay closed the lead to two when Yandy Díaz smack a two-run shot to right field in the third. Iván Herrera added an RBI single for the Cardinals in the fourth, while Willson Contreras homered to lead off the seventh. The Rays loaded the bases twice in the seventh, but were only able to score on a groundout by Junior Caminero. JoJo Romero posted a two-inning save, striking out three while allowing just one hit.

Gray recovered from his shaky first inning to get his 12th win of the season. He went five innings and allowed three runs on six hits, striking out six while allowing one walk.

The Cardinals (64-65) are now one game below .500, four games behind the Mets for the third wild card spot. Miles Mikolas will take the bump Friday evening in the second game of the series. First pitch is at 5:35 p.m.