Cardinals 4, Nationals 3: Lance Lynn drove in a run with his first career double and won for the fourth time in as many starts while Tony Cruz added a two-run single as visiting St. Louis bounced back from a rare loss to Washington.
Lynn (4-0) became the majors’ first four-game winner, allowing one run on five hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings before two relievers bridged the gap to Trevor Rosenthal, who gave up Kevin Frandsen’s RBI groundout in the ninth inning before striking out Jayson Werth with a runner on third for his fifth save. Matt Holliday also drove in a run as the Cardinals defeated the Nationals for the 12th time in the last 15 meetings (including playoffs) after falling 3-1 on Friday.
Washington committed its major league-leading 20th error and Jordan Zimmermann (1-1) paid the price as he fell to 0-4 in seven regular-season starts versus the Cardinals after he was charged with four runs (one earned) and seven hits over seven frames. Danny Espinosa hit a solo homer while Anthony Rendon had two hits, including a run-scoring double in the eighth inning.
After St. Louis put runners on second and third in the second following a walk to Allen Craig and Rendon’s throwing error from third base on a grounder by Jhonny Peralta, Cruz lifted a two-out flare to shallow right. Lynn followed with the first extra-base hit of his career down the right-field line that rolled under Werth’s glove and into the corner, allowing Cruz to score easily from first.
Espinosa trimmed the deficit to 3-1 in the fifth with his first homer of the season just over the fence in right-center and Washington loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth off Lynn, but reliever Kevin Siegrist got Espinosa to fly out to center to end the threat. The Cardinals restored their three-run advantage in the seventh as Holliday ripped a single to left to plate Matt Carpenter.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Washington LF Bryce Harper was pulled from the game prior to the start of the seventh inning for what manager Matt Williams termed a "lack of hustle" and was replaced by Frandsen. … Lynn has started 4-0 in each of his last three seasons. … Nationals CF Denard Span was reinstated from the seven-day concussion disabled list and went 2-for-5.
St. Louis | Washington | |
Lance Lynn | Player | Jordan Zimmermann |
Win | W/L | Loss |
5.2 | IP | 7.0 |
5 | Strikeouts | 6 |
5 | Hits | 7 |
1.59 | ERA | 1.29 |
St. Louis | Washington | |
Tony Cruz | Player | Anthony Rendon |
2 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
St. Louis | 8 | 0 | 9 | .242 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Washington | 8 | 1 | 13 | .229 | 17 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 |