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Included was how Andre Pallante, in his role as a starter, could lessen the burden of the bullpen after each Cardinals reliever pitched on Thursday vs. the White Sox.

With his manager hoping he could provide length in a start vs. the Reds, Pallante held Cincinnati scoreless through six-plus innings, scattered two hits, and walked one batter in a 6-1 series-opening win for the Cardinals (41-35) at Busch Stadium.

The right-hander’s efforts provided his team with “exactly� what they “needed�

“He looked really good,� Marmol said of Pallante. “The fastball played. He got ahead of a lot of guys. Mixed everything else in enough to get them off the fastball. He was just on the attack the whole game. He matches up well against these guys.�

The only two hits allowed by Pallante (5-3) were singles, one of which came from Matt McClain in the third inning and the other from Elly De La Cruz that led off the seventh inning and signaled the end of the right-hander’s night after 87 pitches.

The six scoreless innings protected a one-run lead the Cardinals grabbed with a sacrifice fly in the third inning by Alec Burleson. The distance by Pallante left Phil Maton (one inning), John King (1/3 of an inning), JoJo Romero (one inning), and Riley O’Brien (2/3 of an inning) three innings to cover. After Maton secured his 15th hold of the year with a scoreless seventh inning, the Cardinals built their lead to 6-0 with a five-run seventh inning during which they scored runs on hits by Masyn Winn, Lars Nootbaar, a walk by Nolan Gorman, and on a fielding error by third baseman Gavin Lux on a ball put in play by Saggese.

The start marked Pallante’s second scoreless start this year. His lone other scoreless outing came on April 11, when he held the Phillies down through seven innings. Pallante’s quality start earned him his first winning decision since May 16 and lowered his ERA to 4.48.

“I still didn’t feel like I was as good as executing my game plan and doing what I need to do as I did my last outing. But, trusting the process, I just kept trying to build off what I’ve been doing well, and I got some good results today,� said Pallante, who entered Friday with a 4.83 ERA on the season and 13 runs allowed in 14 2/3 innings through his first three starts of June.

As he navigated a Reds team he went 5-2 against before Friday’s series-opener, Pallante threw his four-seam fastball 42 times, used his slider 25 times, and flashed his sinker on just six instances, per Statcast. His knuckle curveball, which got three whiffs on three swings, was used 14 times.

That approach grounded the Reds on half of the 16 balls put in play vs. Pallante. Pallante, who ranks among Major League Baseball’s best in getting ground balls, recorded 10 ground outs, two fly outs and notched four strikeouts.

“It’s everything,� catcher Pedro Pages said of Pallante’s start. “Helping our bullpen out. It was a hard day yesterday. A long day, but just going out there and competing, just giving us everything he had… he did a great job with it. We used some guys today, but everyone was used in the right way so that we would be able to use them again tomorrow. At the end of the day, he did a great job. And for himself, he needed that start. I think it’s just a confidence boost for him, and he’s just going to keep going with that.�

Pallante’s success when using his fastball on Friday continued a climb with that pitch after he saw opposing hitters bat .309 when offering at it in April.

After the 26-year-old limited hitters to a .242 average on it during May, Pallante entered Friday having allowed a .182 average on his fastball through three starts in June. As the season has progressed, Pallante saw his average fastball velocity increase to 95.1 mph during his first three starts in June. The fastball hovered at 93.8 mph in April and 94.6 mph in May, per Statcast. The rate of hard contact vs. Pallante’s fastball to start June (50%) sat 5.7% lower than it did in April, just as the ground ball rate with that pitch has risen.

On Friday, Pallante averaged 94.8 mph with his fastball — a 0.5 mph increase from his yearly average, per Statcast. He landed it for a called strike eight times. It kept hitters to an average exit velocity of 90.4 mph when it was put in play.

As he mixed an upper-80s mph slider that got five swings-and-misses and three called strikes, Pallante’s fastball was responsible for half of his 10 groundouts and provided moments of growth for the 26-year-old starter.

“It gives me a lot of confidence because that’s what I can resort to in a big situation,� Pallante said of his fastball. “And it just helps my other stuff play up so much when they have to respect it.�

Cardinals 6, Reds 1

Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Friedl cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .290

Lux 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .270

De La Cruz ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 .263

Stephenson dh 3 0 0 0 1 0 .248

Steer 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .226

Benson lf 2 0 0 0 0 1 .225

Espinal ph-lf 2 1 1 0 0 1 .251

Trevino c 2 0 1 0 1 0 .307

Fraley rf 2 0 0 0 0 0 .231

Joe ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .250

McLain 2b 2 0 1 0 1 1 .200

Totals 30 1 4 0 3 8

St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Donovan 2b 3 2 0 0 2 0 .313

Winn ss 5 1 2 1 0 1 .255

Burleson 1b 4 0 1 1 0 1 .312

Gorman 3b 2 1 0 1 2 2 .216

Saggese dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 .333

Nootbaar lf 4 0 2 1 0 2 .229

Walker rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .214

Pagés c 3 1 1 0 1 1 .223

Scott cf 2 1 0 0 0 2 .236

Totals 31 6 7 4 5 11

Cincinnati 000 000 010 — 1 4 1

St. Louis 001 000 50x — 6 7 2

E: Lux (3), Donovan (2), Walker (1). LOB: Cincinnati 5, St. Louis 9. 2B: Trevino (16), Burleson (11), Winn (13), Nootbaar (13). RBIs: Burleson (27), Winn (24), Gorman (18), Nootbaar (31). SB: Scott (21). SF: Burleson. DP: St. Louis 1.

Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Singer, L, 7-5 6 4 1 1 1 7 4.13

Barlow 1/3 0 2 2 1 0 4.26

Rogers 1/3 1 3 0 2 1 3.42

Santillan 1/3 1 0 0 0 1 2.62

Phillips 1 1 0 0 1 2 0.00

St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Pallante, W, 5-3 6 2 0 0 1 4 4.48

Maton 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.91

King 1/3 2 1 1 1 0 4.85

Romero 1 0 0 0 0 1 2.74

O’Brien 2/3 0 0 0 1 2 2.77

Inherited runners-scored: Rogers 2-2, Santillan 3-3, Maton 1-0, Romero 2-0. HBP: Singer (Scott), Barlow (Scott). T: 2:44. Att.: 35,334.