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McGreevy tossed six scoreless innings as he worked around six hits and a walk to lead the Cardinals to a 5-0 shutout win over the Cubs at Busch Stadium. The outing was McGreevy’s second scoreless showing in the majors this year with the other being 5 2/3 scoreless innings of relief he provided in his season debut on May 4 against the Mets.

The 25-year-old McGreevy, who allowed 11 runs in his previous two starts, was provided a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single from Jordan Walker in the second inning. A relief effort that included an inning apiece from Matt Svanson, JoJo Romero, and Riley O’Brien secured McGreevy’s second winning decision in as many starts.

Walker provided two of the Cardinals five runs on Friday with his single in the second inning and a tape-measure solo homer in the sixth inning that marked his first homer since May 17. The Cardinals (59-58) also received RBIs from Ivan Herrera (0 for 3), Ivan Herrera (1 for 3), and Pedro Pages (1 for 4).

The win elevated the Cardinals to a record above .500 for the first time since July 29.

Silencing the top of order

In order to get through a scoreless fifth inning against Chicago, McGreevy had to face the Cubs’ Nos. 1, 2, 3 hitters with runners on first and second base following a walk and a single to begin the frame.

He flashed six pitches to do so.

With two runners on base to face leadoff hitter Michael Busch, the right-hander landed a curveball for a first pitch strike, offered the lefty a cutter that was fouled off to make it a 1-2 count, and finished the at-bat with whiff on a changeup throw low and away for a strikeout.

The rookie starter fell into a 2-0 count to Seiya Suzuki and saw the count go to 3-1 when a sweeper, the third he offered Suzuki in the at-bat, missed the strike zone. A sinker placed inside Got the Cubs’ designated hitter to pop up.

Against Kyle Tucker, who started in left field for the National League in this year’s All-Star game, McGreevy worked 1-0 count to 1-3 with a changeup that got a swing and miss and a fastball Tucker fouled off. Two pitches after Tucker fouled off a curveball that got him to chase below the strike zone, McGreevy got the four-time All-Star fly out to center field on a fastball thrown up and in on the lefty.

Walker takes flight

Having over two months since his last homer in the majors, Walker snapped his drought with by putting a second ball in play with an exit velocity above 107 mph.

Walker, who singled home the game’s first run on a ball that had a 107.9 mph exit velocity, saw two pitches from Ryan Brasier before hitting the third to left field for a 434-foot homer that had a 111.7 mph exit. Walker’s home was the hardest hit ball in play during Friday’s game at Busch Stadium.

The 23-year-old’s homer snapped a streak of 106 at-bats without a homer dating back to the solo homer he hit in a 1-0 win over the Royals in near the middle of May.

McGreevy hit by comebacker, stays in

When he recorded the first out of the second inning, McGreevy felt the full force of a ball scorched by Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Crow-Armstrong lined a comebacker with a 104.6 mph exit velocity that hit McGreevy in the chest. After the baseball bounced a few feet in front of the pitcher’s mound, McGreevy collected it and threw it to first base for the inning’s first out.

McGreevy was visited on the mound by Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol and a team trainer. The 24-year-old could be appeared to jokingly check his own pulse and appeared to laugh off the comeback liner before staying in the game.

Deploying the lefty

With one left-hander in his bullpen and his club facing a Cubs lineup scattered with three lefties and two switch-hitters, Marmol went to his lone lefty in a spot where he could combat Chicago’s two left-handed All-Star bats and

In the eighth inning with a runner on first base, Marmol called on Romero from the bullpen to face Tucker with Crow-Armstrong looming.

A first-pitch slider from Romero hit Tucker to put runners on first and second base with no outs. The Cardinals left-hander had three of his first four pitches to the switch-hitting Ian Happ miss the strike zone, before working the count to 3-2 with a sinker that was called for a third strike on the outer half of the plate. Romero’s ability to located a slider in that same part of the strike zone froze Happ for a called third strike.

With Crow-Armstrong, the starting center fielder for the NL in this year’s All-Star game, up to bat, Romero caught the top of the strike zone with a sinker and offered back-to-back sliders the All-Star fouled off. A third slider got Crow-Armstrong to fly out to right field for the second out before retiring Carson Kelly to end the scoreless inning.