WASHINGTON (AP) – Miles Mikolas outpitched Max Scherzer, Marcell Ozuna had
three hits and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 5-1
Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.
Jose Martinez drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who have won 10 of 11.
Washington has lost the first three games of the series and six of their last
seven overall, and fell to 12-17.
The Cardinals touched up Scherzer (1-4) for three runs in the first as Victor
Robles, playing right in place of Juan Soto, who was scratched from the lineup
with back spasms, misread Ozuna’s flyball and it went for an RBI double.
Martinez delivered a two-run single a batter later.
Scherzer pitched seven innings and struck out eight. He yielded eight hits,
half of them coming in the first inning.
The Nationals mustered a run in the fourth, but couldn’t solve Mikolas (3-2),
who was winless in his first three road starts this year. The right-hander gave
up a run and seven hits while striking out four in six innings, and his final
pitch resulted in a flyball to left by Michael A. Taylor fly that Ozuna caught
while backed up against the door to the visitor’s bullpen.
St. Louis added two runs in the eighth off Joe Ross, ending the Washington
bullpen’s scoreless streak at 16 innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: RHP Luke Gregerson (shoulder impingement) threw to seven batters
during a pregame batting practice session. “Stuff looked good. He had some
later movement to his ball, had some finish to his pitches,” manager Mike
Shildt said. “We’ll see how he recovers and based on that and based on the next
couple days we’ll find the right spot to get him activated.” . OF Dexter Fowler
(illness) was unavailable for the second game in a row.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: RHP Dakota Hudson (2-1, 5.63 ERA) looks to win his third consecutive
start. He is 1-0 with a 7.71 ERA in four lifetime appearances (all in relief)
against Washington.
Nationals: RHP Stephen Strasburg (2-1, 3.82) faces the Cardinals for the first
time since 2016 as the four-game series concludes.
Game time is 3:05 with the pre-game at 2:10 on KTLO-AM.
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