MLB

St. Louis Cardinals at Washington Nationals

· Major League Baseball
St. Louis Cardinals
31-43, 18-22 Away
Final
9 - 3
Washington Nationals
27-45, 12-26 Home

Dylan Carlson hits 2 homers as the Cardinals win their 4th straight, beating the Nationals 9-3

Carlson’s first homer was a two-run shot that opened the scoring in the second inning and traveled 445 feet, landing halfway up the batter’s eye berm behind the center field wall. He went deep again leading off the seventh. It was Carlson’s third career multi-homer game and first of the season.

“Definitely felt good to go to the big part of the yard, no doubt," Carlson said. “I wouldn’t mind it some more times hopefully to come. Ultimately, just trying to keep it simple. I wasn’t going up there trying to hit homers by any means.”

Paul DeJong added a two-run shot in the ninth, his 11th homer this year, as the Cardinals finished with 14 hits.

Jordan Montgomery (4-7) retired his first seven batters and matched a season high by pitching seven innings, allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts. After losing seven straight decisions, Montgomery has won two in a row.

“Changeup was good there for the first couple of innings and then kind of settled in with my fastball down and mixed in some four-seamers up,” Montgomery said. “Just getting quick outs with my sinker and my changeup. That team is really aggressive. They were swinging, so kind of just trying to get them on the ground or get them out early.”

MacKenzie Gore (3-6) gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings for the Nationals, who have lost five straight and 13 of 15. Washington has lost nine of Gore's last 10 starts.

“It’s kind of the way it has been lately," Gore said. “I made some pitches in the middle of the plate and they are doing damage right now. The homers killed me again. They hit some doubles too on some pitches that were over the plate. I just got to do a better job of keeping the ball in the ballpark. I stunk today. We are struggling right now and we are just frustrated.”

Contreras, who signed an $87.5 million contract in the offseason to replace longtime Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, entered in a 15-for-104 slump (.144). He started at designated hitter Tuesday and doubled in the fourth and fifth, singled in the seventh and was hit by a pitch in the ninth, finishing with two RBI.

“It’s just a matter of time for this guy," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "He’s comfortable. He’s taking good at-bats. We talked about when he’s driving the ball to right side of the field its a good thing. We are going to need him. Today was a really good day.”

The Cardinals, last in the NL Central, have scored 30 runs during their four-game win streak. Now they have a shot at their first series sweep since May 12-14 at Boston.

“Sometimes you just have to have confidence before things start to go your way," Marmol said. "This group has been trying that for a while now and they haven’t given in at all. So to be able to see them get rewarded is good.”

St. Louis rookie Jordan Walker extended his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games with a second-inning single. Brendan Donovan went 3-for-5 for the Cardinals, and Paul Goldschmidt singled twice, scored twice and drove in a run.

The Nationals got within 2-1 in the fourth when Lane Thomas led off with a triple and scored on Stone Garrett's two-out double. Montgomery struck out Dominic Smith to end the threat.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RHP Jordan Hicks was unavailable Tuesday night after closing three straight games.

Nationals: 3B Carter Kieboom was placed on the injured list by Triple-A Rochester. He had an MRI Tuesday after tweaking his left oblique.

UP NEXT

RHP Miles Mikolas (4-4, 4.36 ERA) starts for St. Louis on Wednesday as it seeks a three-game sweep ahead of its trip to London to face the Chicago Cubs in a two-game weekend series. Trevor Williams (3-4, 4.50) takes the mound for Washington.

How can I watch St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals?
  • TV Channel: Cardinals at Nationals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Nationals: 49.3%
Cardinals: 50.7%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

9th Inning Robles grounded out to shortstop.
9th Inning Adams tripled to right, Garrett scored.
9th Inning Smith lined out to center.
9th Inning Garrett singled to center.
9th Inning Meneses struck out looking.
9th Inning Woodford relieved VerHagen

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/stl.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originSTL https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/wsh.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originWSH
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
1 Hit By Pitch 0
10 Ground Balls 12
9 Strikeouts 7
9 Runs Batted In 3
0 Sacrifice Hit 0
14 Hits 8
2 Stolen Bases 0
4 Walks 1
0 Catcher Interference 0
9 Runs 3
1 Ground Into Double Play 1
1 Sacrifice Flies 1
40 At Bats 33
3 Home Runs 0
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 0
20 Runners Left On Base 12
0 Triples 2
1 Game Winning RBIs 0
0 Intentional Walks 0
2 Doubles 2
22 Fly Balls 15
0 Caught Stealing 0
179 Pitches 128
0 Games Started 0
1 Pinch At Bats 0
0 Pinch Hits 0
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
1 Is Qualified In Steals 0
25 Total Bases 14
46 Plate Appearances 35
486.0 Projected Home Runs 0.0
5 Extra Base Hits 4
10.0 Runs Created 3.4
.350 Batting Average .242
.000 Pinch Hit Average .000
.625 Slugging Percentage .424
.425 Secondary Average .212
.413 On Base Percentage .257
1.038 OBP Pct + SLG Pct .681
0.5 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 0.8
9.7 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 3.4
65.0 Batter Rating 29.0
13.3 At Bats Per Home Run 0.0
1.00 Stolen Base Percentage 0.00
3.89 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 3.66
.275 Isolated Power .182
0.44 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.14
.087 Walks Per Plate Appearance .029
.075 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average -.030
18.0 Runs Produced 6.0
1.0 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.7 Patience Ratio 0.4
0.4 Balls In Play Average 0.3
109.3 MLB Rating 79.5
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Nationals Park

Location: Washington, District of Columbia
Attendance: 22,223 | Capacity:

2024 National League Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Milwaukee 93 69 .574 - L1
St. Louis 83 79 .512 10 W1
Chicago 83 79 .512 10 L1
Cincinnati 77 85 .475 16 W1
Pittsburgh 76 86 .469 17 L1

2024 National League East Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Philadelphia 95 67 .586 - W1
Atlanta 89 73 .549 6 W1
New York 89 73 .549 6 L1
Washington 71 91 .438 24 L1
Miami 62 100 .383 33 W4
Full Standings