Rampant cards crush Nats to level series
Washington pitcher Jordan Zimmermann run out of the ballpark as World Series champions St Louis get campaign back on track
Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso homered early to build a nice cushion and Carlos Beltran added two long shots in a 12-4 rout over the Washington Nationals that evened the best-of-five series at a game apiece.
“If we get things going, we feel like we can carry the team,” Craig said. “As you saw tonight, we put a lot of good swings on the ball and really drove the ball. It was a lot of fun.”
The Cardinals chased Zimmermann after three innings, his shortest outing of the season, and took care of business in what could be the final home game of the season. A day after managing just three hits, there was no carry-over.
“You’ve got to be confident,” third baseman David Freese said. “We’re one of the few teams left. They still think they can take the series, and so do we.”
Johnson said Zimmermann, pitching on eight days’ rest, relied too heavily on outside fastballs that the Cardinals were able to time. The right-hander’s next-shortest outing this year also was against the Cardinals, when he coughed up a four-run, first-inning cushion and was chased after yielding eight runs in 3-2/3 innings during a 10-9 loss at home.
He’s 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in five career regular-season starts against St Louis, who were 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position against a pitcher who led the majors in holding opponents to a .160 average in that category.
The Cardinals had more than enough to compensate for a two-inning start from an ailing Jaime Garcia, who had an MRI exam for a shoulder injury. The lefty missed two months with shoulder fatigue during the season.