ST. LOUIS (AP) – Marcell Ozuna drove in four runs and threw out a runner at
home plate from left field, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Washington
Nationals 4-2 on Monday night.
St. Louis maintained a two-game NL Central lead over the second-place Chicago
Cubs, who closed within a half-game of the Nationals for the top NL wild card.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez missed the game following a heart procedure in
Washington, and bench coach Chip Hale was in charge of the dugout.
Ozuna hit a two-run homer in the first off Stephen Strasburg, who walked Dexter
Fowler leading off.
Washington tied the score 2-2 on Victor Robles’ RBI single in the fourth and
Anthony Rendon’s 34th homer leading off the sixth. Ozuna charged on Robles’ hit
and made a one-hop throw to catcher Yadier Molina, who tagged out Asdrubal
Cabrera trying to score from second.
Fowler walked against Sean Doolittle (6-5) with one out in the seventh, Hunter
Strickland walked Paul Goldschmidt with two outs and Ozuna doubled just inside
the left-field line, just the second hit in 11 at-bats for the Cardinals with
runners in scoring position.
Dakota Hudson (16-7) won for the sixth time in seven starts, giving up two runs
and five hits in seven innings.
John Brebbia, Andrew Miller and Martinez followed with perfect relief. One day
after he was released from a hospital following respiratory problems caused by
asthma and allergies, Martinez retired Ryan Zimmerman on a flyout for his 20th
save in 23 chances.
Strasburg gave up two runs, three hits and four walks in five innings, his
shortest outing since Aug. 3. He is 3-2 in his last nine outings after winning
seven straight starts in late June and July, leaving his record at 17-6.
BASE BURGLERS
Molina, Kolten Wong, Tommy Edman and Dexter Fowler all stole second base,
raising the Cardinals’ NL-leading total to 109.
UP NEXT
Nationals: LHP Patrick Corbin (12-7, 3.20) is 1-2 with a 4.89 ERA against the
Cardinals. His lone win came in 2016 when he pitched for Arizona.
Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (9-13, 4.28) beat the Nationals 5-1 on May 1 when
matched against Max Scherzer.
Game time Tuesday night is at 6:45 with the pre-game at 5:50 on KTLO-AM.
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