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There was a moment early in Monday night’s game that had a shimmer — or is it shiver? — of deja vu for the Cardinals.

Nolan Arenado led off the second inning with his first of two doubles, and Brendan Donovan followed by extending his hitting streak to 10 games with the first of his four hits in the game. With no outs and one of the top lefty starters in the game on the mound and wobbly, the Cardinals had two runners on, one in scoring position.

Neither budged a bit.

The inning fizzled — but the game did not.

Instead of pushovers, this Cardinals’ lineup pushed forward.

“It’s a relentless bunch, right?� Donovan said. “All right we missed an opportunity. If we keep the pressure on, eventually we’re going to break through.�

The Cardinals did in later innings with seven runs off Houston starter Framber Valdez on the way to an 8-3 frolic Monday night at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals, led by Sonny Gray’s seven scoreless innings, teased their second consecutive shutout against a contending team until the Astros scored in the ninth inning. The offense had already completed its own notable streak. In the past week, the Cardinals’ four wins have come against All-Star pitchers — all of them current or former aces of the staff. In subsequent wins, the Cardinals have defeated Paul Skenes, Valdez and the Philadelphia Phillies duo of Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola.

Against teams other than the Cardinals this season, that foursome has a 3.30 ERA in 60 innings. In 21 against the Cardinals, their ERA mushrooms to 7.28.

They each took the loss to the Cardinals.

Valdez’s ERA soared from 2.50 on Monday afternoon to 4.50 after four innings.

“You go Wheeler and Valdez?� Gray said. “To beat both of those guys on back-to-back days. Those are two of the best pitchers in baseball.�

Added Arenado: “Just a great day for us as a group against another great pitcher. We’re battling up there. We’re doing a good job of not caring about who is on the mound. Just trying to accomplish our game plan, and our game plan worked. It’s a credit to the group.�

After the Cardinals’ maddening loss Saturday that may have prepared them well for Monday’s win, Arenado remained in the batting cage late Saturday night. All the team’s coaches and all the team’s tech were there to help Arenado put his swing together. He and hitting coach Brant Brown, along with Brandon Allen and Packy Elkins, talked through some adjustments.

Arenado swung through some options. And by Sunday, his manager noted a buoyancy to the third baseman’s body language — and then he tagged two hits in the 7-0 victory against the Phillies. He followed that with a double in the second inning Monday, another in the fifth, and a home run in the seventh.

It was Arenado’s first home run since opening day at Busch.

“The work is always clean, (but) the work has been very, very crisp lately,� Donovan said of his teammate. “It was only a matter of time before he took off.�

Batting back to back in the lineup Monday, there are elements of Arenado’s approach and sprinkles of Donovan’s look at the plate that illustrate what the Cardinals want their lineup to be. Donovan doesn’t mind getting into deeper counts, seeing a lot of pitches, and he’s alright if he does in the third inning and them ambushes a first pitch in the sixth. Arenado has a gift for making contact, and while he thrives with pull-side power, he’s also often shown the ability to generate a single when the best swing isn’t there.

That has been the Cardinals offense to open the season — accumulating hits with at least 10 in their first nine consecutive games. (And in the 10th, they had nine hits.) Cleanup hitter Arenado had not hit a home run since opening day, and Willson Contreras hit his first of the season Sunday. Yet, the Cardinals remained a persistent offense. Entering Monday’s game, they led the league in on-base percentage for the first time since 2012.

“I really like the way we’re attacking every day,� manager Oliver Marmol said. “There’s a different way to beat every one of these guys. The approach has been there. The execution has been there. You’re going to lose some. I love the way we’re going about it.�

Said Donovan: “We’ve seen some really good arms in the last week, and we’ve been able to scratch a few there, maybe put a crooked number one inning. Even if we don’t, we’ve added on. Sometimes you may scratch one through and then you get a sigh of relief. Whereas this bunch keeps it on. You’ve got some big ball. You’ve got some small ball. There’s so many different ways we can beat you. It’s been fun to see the guys do it.�

The Cardinals hit .308 against Skenes, Wheeler, Nola and Valdez.

The rest of the majors are batting .234 against the foursome.

All of the four starters threw at least 89 pitches against the Cardinals, but not one of them got an out in the seventh inning. The Cardinals averaged 3.8 pitchers seen per plate appearance, and over the past two games they had 17 hits off the starters vs. only six strikeouts.

A pivotal at-bat in the game was also a revealing one.

Catcher Pedro Pages fell behind 0-2 to Valdez and then found his way back into the at-bat. He ignored a sinker on the edge. He didn’t chase a curveball in the dirt. When Valdez went back to the curveball, Pages drilled it for a two-run double into the left field corner.

“That was one of my favorite at-bats,� Marmol said. “Knowing how he wanted to beat him and then sticking to it. Valdez — that’s a tough pitcher. To be more stubborn than him is important, and our guys did exactly that.�

What may have helped was Saturday’s loss.

Phillies lefty Cristopher Sanchez pitched one of the best game yet against the Cardinals, and he defied them with a hummingbird sinker that he could release at 97 mph. He alone coaxed four of the five double plays the Phillies turned that day, and the Cardinals kept pounding the sinker into the dirt. Valdez brings a sinker from the left side with a little less heat than Sanchez, and the Cardinals were prepared. They elevated Valdez’s sinker, and five of the 10 hits against the lefty were doubles.

In the fifth, Arenado dueled Valdez through a 10-pitch at-bat.

Opposing the team that tried to trade for him this past winter before Arenado exercised his no-trade clause to remain with the Cardinals, the All-Star fouled off a sinker, a change-up, a curveball, and then another sinker. When Valdez tried to get another change-up under Arenado’s swing, he pounced for a double to left. Donovan drove Arenado home with a double of his own and chased Valdez from the game. It’s the first time since midseason 2023 that the Cardinals got four consecutive wins against All-Star pitchers, and Valdez was one of that four, too.

Arenado and Donovan combined for seven hits, four runs and three RBIs. Arenado’s homer tied him with Manny Machado for the 10th-most in baseball history for a primary third baseman. Both active players have 343rd. Two doubles vaulted Arenado into fourth all-time for doubles in interleague play with 73. He’ll have two more games this week close the gap with Miguel Cabrera’s 79. The feel carries over, as Arenado described, not the results.

The Cardinals hit into five double plays Saturday. Press on Sunday.

The Cardinals hit five doubles off the starter Monday. Press on Tuesday.

“The good thing about us when you play on a team that is young with guys like this, it’s very easy to kind of forget to move on,� Arenado said. “We’re just doing a really good job of that. Every day, moving on. Good or bad, move on. Keep moving on. We’re having fun doing that. We’re approaching each day as a new day.�