ST. LOUIS -- In a season of St. Louis baseball that has been marked by conversations about what the future of the Cardinals may someday hold, there are already some pretty interesting things happening in the present.

On a temperate evening in downtown St. Louis, Cardinals rookie left-hander matched with his performance the gorgeous weather in which he pitched.

Mathews dazzled by dicing through the Giants’ lineup with his five-pitch mix, racking up eight strikeouts across 6 and 2/3 innings. He allowed just one run as the Cardinals beat the Giants, 2-1.

The lefty retired the first 10 batters he faced to start the game and kept San Francisco out of the hit column until the sixth inning. Mathews’ flirtation comes just a couple of weeks after the 25th anniversary of rookie left-hander Bud Smith’s no-hitter in San Diego on Sept. 3, 2001 -- which still stands as the most recent for the organization.

So, the former Stanford Cardinal who once famously threw 156 pitches in a complete-game win in college didn’t force Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol to consider history when making his determination on how long to stick with the rookie southpaw.

But with a bullpen teeming with relievers who have been extended to the brink of the season-long usage targets, Marmol left Mathews to man the mound deep into the seventh.

Mathews’ full-count walk to former Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner loaded the bases to bring up Grant McCray, who had tagged Mathews for a double, the first Giants hit, in the previous inning.

Marmol’s move to the bullpen was rewarded by Justin Bruihl, who brought back the notion of a LOOGY (left-handed one out guy) for the night by retiring the lone batter he faced in the game to strand the bases loaded. That allowed Mathews to depart his gem of a start with the lead intact.

But to make a winner out of him, the Cardinals’ lineup had to do its part, too.

A two-run burst in the fifth inning provided Mathews with the run support he required, as Alec Burleson continued his blistering turnaround against left-handed pitching with his 110th RBI to pad his Major League lead in the category.

Later in the fifth, standout rookie catcher Leo Bernal kept up his early Major League success with his 14th RBI in just 13 big league games.

Following Bruihl out of the Cardinal bullpen, Ryne Stanek and Riley O’Brien put a lid on the game, with O’Brien recording his NL-leading 37th save.