3 of bullpen’s Fab 4 handle the rest

Each of the first two relievers into the game allowed the first runner they faced to reach base. Right-hander Andrew Kittredge, in the seventh, erased the leadoff walk with a swift double play to expedite the end of his innings. JoJo Romero didn’t have a runner on base to worry about after allowing a leadoff homer for the Athletics' lone run. He then retired four consecutive.

Ryan Helsley pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save.

He has the six saves in the Cardinals’ eight wins.

Helsley finished the game with a 100.6 mph fastball for a strikeout.

Noot-look lineup yields runs

The reason manager Oliver Marmol gave for promoting Lars Nootbaar to the No. 3 spot in the order for his No. 4 game back from the injured list was simply two words.

“On base,” he said.

The idea was to prime the offense by planting Nootbaar’s nose for getting on base ahead of two of the hitters on the rise during this road trip, Arenado and Contreras. While Nootbaar didn’t get on base in either of the Cardinals’ early rallies, he was a part of both — either igniting one or moving the other along with a little small ball. In the first inning, after Paul Goldschmidt walked, Nootbaar took the chance to bunt him into scoring position for Arenado. The Cardinals cleanup hitter continued his road swing with an RBI single for the game’s first run.

In the sixth inning, as the game held fast to the Cardinals’ 1-0 lead, Nootbaar led off with a double. He took third on Arenado’s deep fly ball to the distant left field wall at Oakland’s Coliseum. It was a fly ball so far that it appeared like Arenado had to squint to see it land in an opponent’s glove and not five, six rows deep into the distant bleachers. Nootbaar got to third, so he had an easy stroll home on Contreras’ double to double the Cardinals lead, 2-0.

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