Mike Leake and the Cardinals’ infield finally strike the right chords

2:45 AM ET

ANAHEIM — Not that long ago, when St. Louis Cardinals’ infielders were booting a routine ground ball or two per game, pitcher Mike Leake must have had a few moments of doubt in the life-changing decision he had come to a few months earlier.

He wasn’t making the Cardinals’ front office look particularly smart for signing him to a five-year, $80 million contract in the offseason and the men who played behind him weren’t doing much to prop him up either. Leake rarely does it alone. He pitches to contact and, in the early going, even poor contact wasn’t necessarily leading to outs.

On Tuesday, when Leake snapped his head, it was often to watch a Cardinals infielder gobble up a ground ball headed for the outfield grass. The Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-1 and Leake picked up his first win as a Cardinal and, as usual, it was an ensemble performance.

Cardinals starter Mike Leake got his first win of the season while allowing one run on six hits with five strikeouts and one walk in eight innings. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Rookie shortstop Aledmys Diaz, whose glove was unreliable early this season, made a strong play in the hole to rob Daniel Nava of a first-inning RBI single and made a diving play to rob C.J. Cron in the fourth. Jedd Gyorko dove up the middle to rob …

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