Adam Dunn belted a three-run homer in the fifth inning to snap a tie and the Washington Nationals never looked back, rolling to a 14-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Dunn added a two-run double and Michael Morse went 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for Washington, which posted its 100th win at Nationals Park in its three-year history.
With two outs and the game even at 5 in the fifth, Roger Bernadina and Ryan Zimmerman singled before Dunn launched a 3-2 offering from Kyle Lohse over the center-field wall for his 32nd home run of the season.
The Nationals put away the game with six runs in the eighth, with Bernadina's two-run homer capping the outburst.
St. Louis, which has lost nine of 13, grabbed a 3-0 advantage in the first inning on Albert Pujols' RBI double and a two-run homer by Jon Jay. Ivan Rodriguez got Washington on the board in the second with a run-scoring single and Dunn highlighted a four-run, two-out rally in the third with a two-run double, giving the Nationals a 5-3 bulge.
Lohse and Felipe Lopez delivered RBI doubles in the fifth to knot the contest before Dunn's decisive shot in the bottom half.
Livan Hernandez (9-9) posted his first win in his last seven home starts despite allowing five runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Lohse (2-6) fell to 1-2 since returning from a lengthy stay on the disabled list, surrendering eight runs and 11 hits in just five frames.
St. Louis | Washington | |
Kyle Lohse | Player | Livan Hernandez |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.0 | IP | 6.1 |
2 | Strikeouts | 2 |
11 | Hits | 8 |
14.40 | ERA | 7.11 |
St. Louis | Washington | |
Skip Schumaker | Player | Michael Morse |
2 | Hits | 4 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 6 |
.667 | Avg | 1.000 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
St. Louis | 9 | 1 | 16 | .265 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Washington | 16 | 2 | 26 | .421 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 |