OAKLAND, Calif. — Back where his winning began, Sonny Gray’s belated but no less impressive start as a Cardinal continued.

There’s no ballpark in the majors where Gray has pitched more than the expiring Coliseum of Oakland. In his 63rd start at the ballpark, the former Athletics top prospect picked up where he left off in his first start for the Cardinals.

He’s still yet to give up a run in his new uniform.

Gray pitched six shutout innings to run his streak to 11 consecutive without a run to begin his Cardinals career. That gave the Cardinals plenty of time to sit on their one run in the first inning before widening that lead toward a 3-1 victory late Monday night against the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum. Nolan Arenado continued his road surge with two hits in his first two at-bats and an RBI single to begin the Cardinals’ scoring. Willson Contreras added two doubles to go with an RBI and a run scored.

On Jackie Robinson Day throughout the majors, Gray had a blue wool cap with a white No. 42 stitched to its front. He wore a Cardinals jersey with a blue No. 42 on its back, just as everyone in uniform did throughout the majors. A grand total of 5,508 fans gathered to see Gray’s return to the place he first called home in the majors and, if Athletics ownership has its way, no team will call home by 2025.

Gray’s first win came at the Coliseum on Aug. 15, 2013, when he pitched eight shutout innings and struck out nine Houston Astros.

He had that kind of stuff working Monday, too.

A pitch count was going to get to him before the A’s did.

Gray (2-0) struck out six and has yet to walk a batter, let alone allow a run, as a Cardinal. He landed six different pitches in his six scoreless innings. He got a swing and miss on five of them — all but the curveball. He got a called strike on five of them, too. Only the change-up didn’t freeze a batter. Gray was effective and so efficient that during the Cardinals’ prolonged top of the sixth inning, he popped on down to the bullpen to get in some throws and keep his arm lively.

In the fourth inning, the A’s strung two singles together to create their only true threat against Gray. He ended the inning with a 2-2 sweeper to get Seth Brown chasing at a pitch out of the strike zone. In the sixth inning, Gray sandwiched two strikeouts around a double. The right-hander’s 11 consecutive shutout innings match the streak Jordan Montgomery had to begin his Cardinals career. Lefty Austin Gomber has the most recent longer streak to start a Cardinals career, beginning his rookie season as a starter in 2020 with 14⅔ scoreless.

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.

Two runs.

Nootbaar was in the middle of both.

The Cardinals widened their lead when Jordan Walker delivered a two-out RBI single that scored Contreras. That was the lead the bullpen inherited.

Stop, thief! (Take 14)

Zack Gelof, the second batter Gray faced in the bottom of the first, singled and promptly ran himself into a little bit of 2024 Cardinals trivia.

The Cardinals began the day as one of four teams in the majors yet to throw out a batter on the bases. Opponents were successful in their first 13 attempts to steal a base against the Cardinals. That didn’t seem so bad compared with the Mets.

Opponents have stolen 24 consecutive (and counting) against them.

For the Cardinals, their tolerance ended in the first inning.

Gelof took off for second, and Contreras’ throw combined with Masyn Winn’s tag to beat him to the base. That made opponents 13 for 14 on attempts to steal. It also allowed Gray to face the minimum through three innings and need only 21 pitches to get the first six outs of the game.

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