ST. LOUIS — This weekend’s series between the Cardinals and Washington Nationals couldn’t rightly conclude without another brief joust with Mother Nature and an interruption due to rain.
For the third straight day, rain interfered with baseball. Ultimately, it didn’t stop the Cardinals from winning for the fourth time in the last five games.
The Cardinals offense bounced back from a slow start to lead the way to a 8-4 series-clinching win in front of an announced 42,626 at Busch Stadium in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
Paul Goldschmidt (2-for-4, walk) and Nolan Gorman (3-for-5) each mashed mammoth home runs in the victory. For the second consecutive game, the Cardinals amassed 13 hits or more. Gorman now has 35 RBIs at Busch Stadium this season, the fourth-most by a MLB player at his home ballpark this season.
The Cardinals (40-53) were up by five runs by the time a 38-minute weather delay extended the seventh-inning stretch into an intermission.
Designated hitter Brendan Donovan went 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, a run scored and an RBI out of the leadoff spot in the batting order. Shortstop Paul DeJong (2-for-4) also registered a multi-hit game.
Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty (7-5) turned in a third consecutive quality start. He allowed three runs on three hits, including a home run, and three walks in six innings. He also struck out seven to pick up his fourth consecutive win.
The Cardinals led by three runs going into the sixth inning, but the Nationals (37-56) scored two in the sixth and made it a one-run game.
The Cardinals’ offense tacked four more runs onto its lead in the bottom of the sixth on the strength of Goldschmidts’ home run, an Alec Burleson RBI groundout and a Gorman RBI single.
Cardinals relievers Chris Stratton (one inning), Kyle Leahy (1/3 inning, one run allowed) and JoJo Romero (1 2/3 innings) closed out the game on the mound.
Flaherty’s streaks snapped
Flaherty entered the day with a scoreless innings streak of 12 2/3 innings after back-to-back blankings of the New York Yankees (6.0 innings on July 1) and Miami Marlins (6 2/3 innings on July 6). He’d also won each of his previous three starts, and the first game in that stretch came against the Nationals in Washington, D.C.
Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz stopped Flaherty’s streak with a solo home run down the right field line and into the stands with one out in the second inning.
Ruiz’s 10th home run of the season also snapped a streak of 56 2/3 innings without a having allowed a home run. That had been the second-longest active streak among National League pitchers, and it dated back to a Dansby Swanson home run at Wrigley Field on May 9.
Early chances squandered by Cardinals
The Cardinals’ offense put multiple runners on base in each of the first three innings against Washington Nationals starting pitcher Josiah Gray. However, they stranded two runners in each frame.
In the first inning, Donovan’s leadoff double put a runner in scoring position immediately, and Arenado got hit by a pitch with two outs to put a pair of men on base. Walker hit an inning-ending fly ball and stranded both runners.
In the second inning, Burleson singled and went from first to third on DeJong’s one-out single. Gray got Andrew Knizner to hit a pop up and then Donovan grounded out to first base to end the inning.
The third time wasn’t a charm. Goldschmidt’s leadoff single followed by a Lars Nootbaar walk put the first two batters of the inning on base, but they still came up empty as Arenado flew out to left-center field. Both runners tagged and move up one base, but Walker popped up and Burleson hit a fly ball to center that wrapped up the inning.
A fruitful fourth inning
After they left six men on base through the first three innings and fell behind 1-0, the Cardinals scored three in the fourth to give Flaherty a lead for the first time in the outing.
They scored all three runs without an extra-base hit or a walk in the inning. Gorman’s leadoff single started a string of four consecutive hits. DeJong followed with a single that allowed Gorman to go first-to-third. Then Knizner smacked an RBI single into right field to drive in the Cardinals’ first run. Knizner now has a hit in six consecutive games, which matched his career-best hitting streak.
The lineup turned over and Donovan singled on a ball that shortstop CJ Abrams got a glove on but couldn’t field cleanly as DeJong scored the second run. With one out, Nootbaar hit a single up the middle and extended his hitting streak to nine games. That drove in the third run of the inning.
The Cardinals still left two men on base in the frame, but grabbed a 3-1 lead.
Nats fight Flaherty to the finish
The Cardinals lead 4-1 after Gorman launched a solo homer in the fifth inning. That three-run advantage proved important just an inning later as the Nationals rallied to within a run of tying against Flaherty.
A pair of extra-base hits served as the driving force in the two-run sixth inning for the Nationals. Abrams lined a one-out triple in the right-center field gap. Then Former Cardinal Lane Thomas drew a walk to put two men on with one out.
After Flaherty struck out Joey Meneses — the seventh strikeout of the day for Flaherty — Dominic Smith hit a fast-sinking liner to right-center field. Nootbaar made a diving attempt at a catch in center field, but he came up empty. Smith’s double drove in Abrams and Thomas and made it a one-run game, 4-3.
