St. Louis pitcher Luke Weaver flirted with perfection Drew Lock Jersey , had to overcome a little frustration, and settled for domination.

Weaver pitched two-hit ball over eight innings and St. Louis beat the San Francisco Giants 11-2 on Thursday night.

”He was making quality pitches at the top of the zone, down, changeup, breaking ball,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said ”Everything was spot on but he controlled the count with his heater and got a lot of early balls in the air. He was aggressive.”

Weaver (5-7) faced two over the minimum and had seven strikeouts. The 24-year-old right-hander carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before giving up a single and Hanson’s two-run homer. Weaver then bounced back to retire the final seven batters he faced.

Weaver didn’t allow a hit until Gorkys Hernandez reached on an infield single with one out in the sixth. Gyorko made a diving stop on Hernandez’s sharp liner near third base but the ball popped out of his right hand as he attempted to throw. Hanson followed with his homer.

”As soon as chopped it and Jedd had to dive, I had a feeling there was not going to be a chance to get him,” Weaver said. ”It would have had to have been an incredible slide jump-up throw and I still don’t think he would have got him. It wasn’t a big deal. I was pretty upset about the home run.”

Jedd Gyorko had three hits including a home run and drove in five runs to spoil the return of Johnny Cueto after two months on the disabled list. Matt Carpenter and Harrison Bader also went deep while Yadier Molina singled three times.

The Cardinals had a season-high 18 hits – their most since getting 19 against the New York Mets on Aug. 24, 2016.

Alen Hanson homered for San Francisco. The Giants have scored five runs while losing four straight.

Cueto (3-1) was rocked in his long-awaited return from the 60-day disabled list. He gave up four runs in the first inning – one more than he had in 32 innings before going out with right elbow inflammation.

”Everything was fine except in the first inning when I was trying to be too fine,” Cueto said. ”Instead of just pitching, I was just trying to place the ball in the strike zone. I just have to continue working my way back to where I was.”

WHAT’S THE COUNT?

San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval appeared to draw a two-out walk in the fifth and began trotting to first base before being called back after Matheny noticed there were only three balls. Two pitches later, Sandoval struck out to end a 12-pitch at-bat.

”I whistled and had the umpire stop for a second,” Matheny said. ”At about the same time, the replay called and then they figured it out on the field by the time we needed to come out of the dugout.”

BABY BULL RETURNS

Orlando Cepeda attended the game for the first time since suffering cardiac arrest in February that left the Hall of Famer in critical condition. The Baby Bull was in the parking lot of a gym when he fell and hit his head during the incident. The 80-year-old is one of the most popular players in franchise history.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: OF Dexter Fowler was reinstated from the paternity list before the game. … Tyler O’Neill was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain. … RHP Matt Bowman (blister) was activated off the DL and optioned to Triple-A Memphis.

Giants: Manager Bruce Bochy said that RHP Jeff Samardzija will have fewer restrictions than Cueto when he returns from the disabled list to start Saturday’s game. Samardzija hasn’t pitched since May 29 because of shoulder tightness. … INF Kelby Tomlinson was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. … RHP Roberto Gomez was released.

UP NEXT

John Gant (2-2, 3.48 ERA) pitches for St. Louis on Friday. The right-hander has had mixed success since rejoining the rotation and allowed four runs in 5 1/3 against Atlanta in his most recent start. RHP Dereck Rodriguez (3-1 3.16) starts for San Francisco.

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To say the Jets Jamel Dean Jersey , Raiders and Bucs have quit would be hyperbole.To say their fans are ready to quit watching them would be more accurate.There was little to nothing worth mentioning about their performances Sunday in one-sided defeats. In the New York and Tampa Bay areas, much of the chatter will be about removing Todd Bowles and Dirk Koetter as head coaches of their respective outfits. At least Jon Gruden won’t be worrying about job security with a Raiders team he has torn asunder, and he has the job security to rebuild.Bowles got it right at the New Jersey Meadowlands by saying following a 41-10 embarrassment at the hands of the previously-inept-on-offense Buffalo: “We stunk it up as coaches, we stunk it up as players.”His team certainly represented what used to be swamp land quite well Sunday.The Jets (3-7, losers of four in a row) were blitzed from the beginning by a quarterback, Matt Barkley, who was unemployed a few days ago, and has been a journeyman for almost his entire NFL stint; this was his 12th game since 2013. They were overrun by LeSean McCoy, which is fine except when you consider he was in a horrendous slump and hadn’t scored all season.Worst, they seemed apathetic and disinterested from the start, a strong indictment of the players and the coaches.“They just came in and just straight, flat out, beat us,” said Jets receiver Jermaine Kearse, who has had to adjust to lots of losing in New York after lots of winning while he was with the Seahawks. “I wish I could give you an explanation. It’s frustrating for all of us, but they just came in here and straight beat us.”Maybe because the Bills were trying a whole lot harder?“Nobody’s quit on anybody D.K. Metcalf Jersey ,” Kearse added. “We win together, we lose together and that’s everybody’s mindset right now. We’re all not perfect, we’re out here trying to figure it out and find ways to improve this situation like anybody else. So, I would think that’s far from the truth.”The Jets have never fired a coach during the season since the Johnson family bought the franchise in 2000. At least Bowles seems to have that going for him.Koetter is in his third season in charge in Tampa, and he’s supposedly an offensive mastermind. Until being manhandled by Washington, the Bucs were tearing it up when they had the ball. Maybe somebody tore up all the play sheets that worked previously because they scored a mere three points against a team struggling with injuries.Offensive coordinator Todd Monken had been calling plays, but Koetter took over against the Redskins. He wouldn’t explain why, but clearly it was a bogus decision.“We weren’t good enough as a team, and that starts with me,” Koetter said. “To move the ball like that and come up with three points, you’re just not going to win that way.”Tampa (3-6) has the second-longest playoff drought, 10 seasons, and Koetter’s chances of breaking that string are diminishing rapidly.No such worries for Gruden, whose return to Oakland has been a fiasco so far. Give him credit for all the high draft picks the Raiders will have in April, and maybe for the high prospects they will carry into Las Vegas when they move in 2020.For now, though Nick Bosa Jersey , well — pardon us on this one — they’ve fallen into a Black Hole.“This will be a year that a lot of us will never forget,” Gruden said of his 1-8 team that has been outscored 75-9 in the past nine quarters in what has quickly become a lost season. “It’s painful. It’s really hard. It’s painful. It’s going to be hard to sleep again, hard to get up in the morning.”When Gruden gets up, he’ll perhaps look at others to get rid of as he retools the roster already missing Khalil Mack, Bruce Irvin and Amari Cooper. He’s got that wildly lucrative 10-year contract, virtual total control of personnel and no qualms about doing pretty much anything.What must hurt fans of these three teams that got hammered Sunday is that the effort from other losing clubs — Arizona, which tested powerful Kansas City; Cleveland, which stunned Atlanta; and, of course, Buffalo — was so strong, so admirable. Perhaps the worst sign for a struggling team is when it looks lost, lethargic and lacking skill on the field.In New Jersey and the Tampa and Oakland bay areas, that’s exactly what the fans saw in Week 10.