Paul Goldschmidt and Paul DeJong drove in three runs each to power the St. Louis Cardinals past the visiting Kansas City Royals 9-3 Monday night.

Goldschmidt hit a run-scoring infield single and a two-run homer as the Cardinals won for the fourth time in five games.

DeJong hit a sacrifice fly and a two-run double in his second game back from a bout with COVID-19.

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty (2-0) allowed just one hit in five scoreless innings to earn the victory. He did not walk a batter and struck out three.

Royals starter Brad Keller (3-1) took the loss after allowing five runs on six hits, with three walks and four strikeouts in his four-plus innings.

Keller struggled with his command early on. In the first inning, he walked leadoff hitter Tommy Edman, walked Goldschmidt one out later, and then hit Matt Carpenter with a pitch.

DeJong's sacrifice fly gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead and snapped Keller's season-opening scoreless streak at 17 2/3 innings.

Edman hit a leadoff single in the fifth, raced to third on Brad Miller's single and scored on Goldschmidt's infield hit. Carpenter walked to load the bases and bring reliever Greg Holland into the game.

DeJong greeted him with a two-run double to make it 4-0. Holland hit Yadier Molina to reload the bases, and Dexter Fowler smacked a two-run double to expand the lead to 6-0.

The Royals cut the lead in half in the sixth inning off reliever Alex Reyes. Whit Merrifield reached on an error, Hunter Dozier walked and Jorge Soler launched a three-run homer, his seventh home run of the season.

The Cardinals struck back in their half of the sixth. Miller singled for his third hit of the game, and Goldschmidt crushed his two-run homer to make it 8-3.

In the seventh, Harrison Bader hit a double off the top of the center field wall, and Edman followed with an RBI single to make it 9-3.

--Field Level Media