ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jaime Garcia pitched eight innings of four-hit ball and helped himself with an RBI single for the St. Louis Cardinals, who ended the Kansas City Royals’ four-game winning streak with a 4-0 victory in the opener of a high-profile weekend interleague series on Friday night. Jon Jay snapped a 2-for-24 slump this month with a two-out RBI triple in the second off Yordano Ventura (3-6), and Garcia followed with his 12th career RBI on an opposite-field single to left.

The Cardinals are 40-21 overall and 23-7 at home, both major league bests. They got a huge outing from Garcia (2-3), so far a success story off thoracic outlet surgery. Ventura lasted just three innings for the second straight start, removed as a precaution due to weakness in his pitching hand. In those two starts, he’s allowed six earned runs.