Kwang Hyun Kim threw seven shutout innings as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-3 Monday.

The Cardinals won for the fifth time in their past eight games while the Giants lost for the fifth time in eight games.

Kim (3-5) allowed just three hits and two walks while completing seven innings for the first time this season, matching his career high. He struck out two.

Giants starting pitcher Kevin Gausman validated his selection to the National League squad for the All-Star Game by holding the Cardinals hitless for the first 6 1/3 innings.

Gausman (8-3) struck out eight batters in seven innings while allowing two runs on three hits and two walks. He has held opponents to two runs or fewer in 15 of his 17 starts this year.

The Cardinals finally broke through against Gausman in the seventh inning. Nolan Arenado lined a one-out single, then took second base on Tommy Edman's two-out infield single. Matt Carpenter blasted a triple to left-center field to put the Cardinals up 2-0.

St. Louis' Dylan Carlson drew a two-out walk from reliever Zack Littell in the eighth inning and moved to third on Paul Goldschmidt's single into shallow right field. Arenado then dropped an RBI single into right field to make it 3-0.

Alex Dickerson's homer off reliever Giovanny Gallegos in the bottom of the inning cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Cardinals boosted their lead to 5-1 in the ninth inning. Edman hit a leadoff single and James Sherfy hit Paul DeJong with a pitch.

Harrison Bader followed with an RBI single up the middle, Edmundo Sosa bunted the runners over and Jose Rondon hit a sacrifice fly.

Alex Reyes walked leadoff hitter Wilmer Flores leading off the bottom of the inning. Darin Ruf and Donovan Solano followed with singles to pull San Francisco within 5-2.

A wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. Steven Duggar's RBI grounder cut the gap to 5-3, but Reyes struck out LaMonte Wade Jr. to end the game.

--Field Level Media