ST. LOUIS -- The game within the game, Masyn Winn noted Saturday after the Cardinals’ 7-2 victory over Boston for their fifth win in their past six games, is the precocious 22-year-old rookie shortstop trying his best to outdo 10-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado defensively throughout the night.

On Saturday, the Cardinals used Nolan Gorman’s second-inning homer and a five-run rally in the eighth inning to wrap up a season series win over the Red Sox for a second consecutive year. However, it was the stellar defense from the 33-year-old Arenado and the rookie Winn that left fingerprints all over the stirring victory.

“Obviously, we’re on the same team, but I kind of feel like we’re competing out there sometimes with, ‘Who’s going to do better tonight?’” joked Winn. “It’s a lot of fun having that guy [Arenado] next to me. The communication has only gotten better since we started playing together last year. It’s so much fun watching ‘Nado play the game day in and day out.”

Arenado, who made it a goal to get back to playing elite defense after not winning a Gold Glove for the first time in his MLB career in 2023, wowed the crowd of 40,690 at Busch Stadium with two electrifying defensive plays. Arenado took a hit away from Vaughn Grissom in the second inning with a hard-charging, barehanded play on a slow roller. Later in the fifth inning, Arenado sprinted to his right and ended a Red Sox rally with a sliding basket catch near the Boston dugout.

“It’s incredible to watch, especially when I get to stand there on the mound and just crouch down and watch him make that play barehanded,” said starting pitcher Miles Mikolas, who allowed just one run over five innings thanks in part to the defense of Arenado and Winn. “Nolan is a special, special player. What he can do there at the hot corner makes him one of a kind.”

Not to be outdone, Winn showed why many feel he is destined to win a Gold Glove in the years to come. In the fifth, Grissom hit a ball 100.7 mph up the middle only to have Winn make a diving stop before firing the ball to first base. Then, in the eighth inning, Winn showed off two of the elite facets of his game by sliding into the hole to stop a 101.3 mph liner off the bat of Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela and bouncing up to fire an 88.6 mph strike to first.

“He’s an athlete, he gets to just about everything, and then he has the arm to finish the play,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “That’s what makes him so fun to watch.”

Added Mikolas: “He plays a pretty special shortstop from what I’ve seen, and I’ve been around the game a good bit. And it’s not just his arm. His ability to get up off the ground, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone get up off the ground quicker than that in my career. That’s the special ability he has to make those diving plays and then use that great arm of his.”

Arenado, who had three hits in Friday’s defeat of the Red Sox, started the five-run rally in the eighth on Saturday with a leadoff single and didn’t hesitate going first to third on a single by Alec Burleson. Then, following RBI singles by Iván Herrera and Gorman, Winn drove a ball to right field for a sacrifice fly that padded the Cards’ lead.

Winn extended his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games with a single in the seventh inning, but it was his defense that left Arenado infinitely impressed in Saturday’s win. Weeks earlier, Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt predicted that Winn will win multiple Gold Gloves in his career -- something Arenado wholeheartedly agrees with, considering the shortstop’s raw talent and advanced maturity.

“His range is off the charts, and he gets to balls as good as anybody at short [that] I’ve ever seen from a range [perspective],” Arenado said. “Obviously, his arm is better than anybody out there. He has a chance to be great. He takes a lot of pride in his defense. Not only does he want to be a good hitter, but he puts a lot of time in on his defense, and that’s hard to find.”