*Photo from ABC News*
Something is clicking for the St. Louis Cardinals outfield. Paul DeJong drove in two runs, Dylan Carlson homered twice, and the Cardinals defeated the Washington Nationals with a 9-3 victory on Tuesday in Washington.
With 7 outfielders in the fray for the Cardinals, Carlson made his best case to keep regular playing time, hitting two homers. As a switch hitter, Carlson hit his homers right handed, the first two from that side of the 5 home runs he has this season. The Cardinals as a whole have won 4 games in a row.
Carlson said after the game that "Being a switch-hitter, it’s two different swings and, honestly, two different brains almost. It's definitely nice when they're both going at the same time. But that's just part of it, that give and take and being able to kind of ride that roller coaster."
The Cardinals got a 2-0 lead in the second inning thanks to a two run home run from Carlson. In the 4th, Stone Garrett got the Nationals on the board, cutting the deficit to 2-1 with an RBI double. Nolan Arenado scored a run with a sac fly and Willson Contreras hit an RBI double in the 5th to make it a 4-1 game. Carlson then hit a solo home run in the 6th to make it a 5-1 lead.
Contreras padded the lead in the 7th inning, making it 6-1 when Paul Goldschmidt scored on his single. It became 7-1 in the 8th when Andrew Knizner scored on a Goldschmidt ground out. In the bottom of the 8th, a run scored for the Nationals on a Lane Thomas sac fly. DeJong hit a two run homer in the 9th to make it 9-2 before a Riley Adams RBI triple made it a 9-3 final score.
St. Louis manager Oli Marmol said of the winning streak that "Sometimes you have to have confidence before things start to go your way, and this group has been trying that for a while now, and they haven’t gotten it, so it’s good to be able to see them get rewarded. We’re in a really good spot right now. We really are. Mentally, physically, the guys are feeling pretty good."
The starter for the Cardinals was Jordan Montgomery, who allowed one run on 4 hits and a walk in 7 innings to get the win, striking out 6 hitters. Drew VerHagen allowed a run as he pitched the 8th, with Jake Woodford doing the same in the 9th inning.
MacKenzie Gore started for the Nationals, getting tagged for 5 runs on 9 hits and two walks in 6 innings. Thaddeus Ward pitched the next two innings, allowing two runs of his own. Hunter Harvey allowed two more runs in one inning of work.
Gore said of his disappointing start that "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."
Up next, the series concludes on Wednesday afternoon. The Cardinals go for the sweep as Miles Mikolas starts, while Trevor Williams takes the mound for the Nationals.
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