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After receiving six scoreless innings from Liberatore and Gorman's early blast, the Cardinals secured a 7-0 win over Cleveland at Progressive Field to notch a series sweep and put them at a season-best nine games above .500.

Liberatore took the mound with a lead in hand after Gorman belted a three-run homer in the top of the first inning. He worked through a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half of the frame and faced minimal traffic in the frame that followed before needing to hold runners at first and second base to end the fifth inning.

Liberatore’s exit came with no outs and runners on first and second base in the seventh. Reliever JoJo Romero’s scoreless effort in relief helped the lefty starter to his second scoreless outing of at least six innings this season.

In their sweep of Cleveland, the Cardinals (47-38) allowed six runs across 27 innings.

The Cardinals leapt out to a lead two pitches into Gorman’s at-bat vs. left-handed Guardians starter Logan Allen. After Allen held the Cardinals scoreless through his next five innings, Victor Scott II provided a jolt of his own to add to the Cardinals’ lead.

Scott pulled a 1-2 fastball off Hunter Gaddis to right field for a two-run homer that marked his fourth of the season. Two runs in the eighth produced on a sacrifice fly from Pedro Pages and a single from Garrett Hampson pushed the Cardinals' lead to seven.

Gorman gets the lefty

In his effort to get the Cardinals on the scoreboard in the first inning, Gorman collected just his second extra-base hit of the season when facing a left-handed pitcher.

Batting with runners on first and third base and two outs in the first inning, Gorman pulled an 0-1 sweeper from Allen to right-center field for a 428-foot homer that had a 110.5 mph exit velocity. The home run was Gorman’s seventh of the season and his second vs. a lefty this year.

Before starting at designated hitter on Sunday, Gorman had a .152 batting average and slugged .242 in 40 plate appearances against lefties. His five hits in 33 at-bats vs. left-hander included five RBIs and 10 strikeouts.

Romero holds the Guardians

Brought in with runners on first and second base and no outs in the seventh inning, Romero needed 12 pitches to deliver a clean outing that helped Liberatore secure his scoreless start.

Romero worked back from a 2-1 count to strike out Jonathan Rodriguez swinging on a change-up well below the strike zone. He followed that by striking out Austin Hedges on five pitches that ended with a whiff on a 96 mph fastball that got Hedges to chase above the strike zone. A softly hit grounder in front of the second base bag fielded by shortstop Masyn Winn got Romero out of the inning and closed the book on Liberatore’s outing.

For Romero, the outing shrunk his ERA to 2.81 on the season after it sat at 7.27 near the end of April. With the scoreless performance, the lefty has now allowed just two runs (one earned) in his previous 17 innings dating back to April 27.

Arenado reaches milestones, exits early

A day after four of his Cardinals teammates hit milestones for their careers, Arenado secured two of his own on Sunday. The first came in the third inning on an infield single.

On a pitch he drilled into the dirt for a bouncing grounder to shortstop, Arenado beat the throw from Daniel Schneeman to reach base with the 1,900th hit of his career. Arenado joined former teammate Paul Goldschmidt, Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen, Houston’s Jose Altuve and Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman as the only active players with 1,900 or more hits as a major leaguer.

In the sixth inning, Arenado blooped a 1-1 cutter from Allen down the right-field line for the 400th double of his career. Arenado, who reached third base on the play when Rodriguez misplayed it after it bounced off the wall down the right field line, joined Goldschmidt, Freeman and Altuve as the only active players in Major League Baseball with 400 or more doubles.

Arenado was pinch-hit for by Jose Fermin at start of the eighth inning. The removal was for “precautionary reasons.”

Arias suffers ankle sprain

Guardians shortstop Gabriel Arias was forced to exit Sunday’s game in the third inning because of a left ankle sprain that required him to be carted off the field. A Guardians official said X-rays on the left ankle were negative.

Arias attempted to slide feet first on a ground ball Winn pulled to left field and appeared to have his left cleat get caught under him as it dug into the outfield turf. Following the slide attempt, Arias remained down the on the outfield grass as he clutched his lower left leg.

Arias was attended to on the field before being carted off. Schneeman replaced Arias at shortstop following his exit.