WASHINGTON (AP) – Miles Mikolas outpitched Max Scherzer, Marcell Ozuna had three hits and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 5-1 Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.
Jose Martinez drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who have won 10 of 11.
Washington has lost the first three games of the series and six of their last seven overall and fell to 12-17.
The Cardinals touched up Scherzer (1-4) for three runs in the first as Victor Robles – playing right in place of Juan Soto, who was scratched from the lineup with back spasms – misread Ozuna’s flyball and it went for an RBI double. Martinez delivered a two-run single a batter later.
Scherzer pitched seven innings and struck out eight. He yielded eight hits, half of them coming in the first inning.
The Nationals mustered a run in the fourth, but couldn’t solve Mikolas (3-2), who was winless in his first three road starts this year. The right-hander gave up a run and seven hits while striking out four in six innings, and his final pitch resulted in a flyball to left by Michael A. Taylor fly that Ozuna caught while backed up against the door to the visitor’s bullpen.
St. Louis added two runs in the eighth off Joe Ross, ending the Washington bullpen’s scoreless streak at 16 innings.
