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KANSAS CITY — As the Cardinals received strong pitching that was backed by sharp, timely defense to keep the Royals scoreless on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium, it was Jordan Walker’s timely, sharply hit fly ball that provided the offense needed for the Cardinals to notch their third consecutive win.

Walker provided the Cardinals a one-run lead in the sixth inning to lift them to a 1-0 win over Kansas City with a solo home run that marked his first since April 13. After his club was held hitless against Royals rookie starter Noah Cameron through 4 2/3 innings and to one hit through five innings, Walker belted a 1-1 fastball 422 feet to center field for a leadoff homer that jumped off his bat at 108.5 mph, per Statcast.

The home run snapped a 23-game stretch without a home run from the 22-year-old right fielder, and it gave the Cardinals the lone boost they needed after Miles Mikolas (six innings), Kyle Leahy (two innings), and Ryan Helsley (one inning) combined to keep the Royals scoreless.

Mikolas matched a season-high in innings as he lowered his ERA to 3.77 through nine starts. Since allowing nine runs on April 6 in Boston, Mikolas has kept opposing teams to three runs or fewer in each of his previous seven starts including Saturday’s.

The save by Helsley was his ninth save in 11 opportunities.

Donovan’s defense shines in 8th

When the Royals threatened to push across a run in the eighth inning against Leahy, a pair of sharp defensive plays up the middle by second baseman Brendan Donovan aided the right-hander to a scoreless outing.

With runners on first and second base and no outs, Donovan ranged to his left to trap a sharply hit grounder by Jonathan India. Donovan quickly flipped to second base to Masyn Winn covering the bag to secure the force out of Kyle Isbel, who singled. As Drew Waters, who led of the inning with a single, ran to third base, Winn threw to Nolan Arenado, who ran ahead of the third base bag to apply the tag on Waters.

In the very next at-bat, Donovan made a diving stop on a sharply hit grounder from Bobby Witt Jr. that came off Witt’s bat at 108 mph and was headed for the outfield grass. Form one knee, Donovan flipped the baseball to Winn for the inning-ending forceout.

Mikolas stifles Royals

During his six scoreless innings, only two baserunners reached scoring position against Mikolas.

Maikel Garcia reached second base on a two-out double in the fourth inning, but was left stranded when Mikolas got Michael Massey to fly out to right field. An inning later, Cavan Biggio walked and advanced to third base with two outs when the two batters after him grounded out to the first base side. Mikolas kept Massey at third by getting India to groundout to end the frame.

Mikolas kept the Royals to two hits and two walks as she struck out four with a six-pitch mix that relied mostly on a fastball that hovered in the low 90s mph.

The veteran right-hander got through his six innings on 76 pitches — 50 of which were strikes. He needed just six pitches to silence the Royals in the second inning and capped his outing with an 11-pitch sixth inning that required him to work through the heart of the Royals’ lineup.

Mikolas got a flyout against Witt Jr., a pop out against Pasquantino, and struck out Salvador Perez, looking, on a 2-2 sinker that was called a strike on the outer edge of the strike zone.

Contreras’s contact play at 2B

In an attempt to try and break up a double play in the second inning, the momentum from Willson Contreras’s slide into the second base bag took him over the bag and took his left foot into Indi’sa right knee. The impact on Contreras’s cleat into his knee led India to fall to the ground.

India remained on the ground momentarily and could be seen grabbing his right knee before getting up under his own power and walking off the field.

While India walked off the field and into the Royals’ dugout, Contreras could be seen exchanging words with Pasquantino and Perez.

Scott steals a hit

Victor Scott II added another leaping catch to his highlight reel in the fourth inning on a play that prevented a potential extra-base hit from Pasquantino.

On a fly ball Pasquantino hit to the gap in left-center field and with the sun in his face, Scott timed his leap from the warning track to successfully haul Pasquantino’s fly ball for a snag that recorded the inning’s first out. The momentum from Scott’s leap led him to collide with the outfield wall and fall to the ground.

Once he got up from the dirt on the warning track, Scott was greeted by left fielder Lars Nootbaar and extended both arms out and below his waist in a flexing motion to briefly celebrate the grab before throwing the ball back to the infield.