St. Louis @ Washington preview
Nationals Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 26, 2010 ) St. Louis 10, Washington 11
The St. Louis Cardinals are in desperate need of a victory. They're counting on a young left-hander to come through with another strong performance.
The Cardinals look to snap a three-game losing streak tonight when they send Jaime Garcia to the mound against the Washington Nationals in the second game of a four-game series.
After beginning its season-high 10-game road trip with a convincing 10-2 triumph at Pittsburgh, St. Louis has lost three straight against two teams that are a combined 61 games under the .500 mark. Thursday's extra-inning setback at Nationals Park was one of the club's most painful losses of the season.
The Cardinals saw leads of 1-0 and 5-3 disappear and found themselves down 8-6 entering the ninth inning. Randy Winn capped a four-run rally with a two-run single, giving St. Louis a 10-8 advantage, but closer Ryan Franklin served up a two-run homer by Roger Bernadina in the bottom of the frame to forge a tie.
The blast was Bernadina's ninth of the season but first at Nationals Park.
St. Louis got the leadoff hitter to second base with no outs in both the 12th and 13th but failed to cash in. Washington finally broke through in the bottom of the 13th as leadoff hitter Nyjer Morgan was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a one-out single by Alberto Gonzalez and scored on Ian Desmond's base hit.
Desmond went 4-for-7 with three RBIs for the Nationals, who halted a six-game losing streak against the Cardinals and a four-game overall skid.
Meanwhile, St. Louis lost for the eighth time in 11 contests and fell four games behind first-place Cincinnati in the National League Central and 1 1/2 behind San Francisco in the wild card race.
The lone bright spot for the Cardinals came in the fourth inning, when Albert Pujols hit his 400th career home run. The slugger became the 47th player overall and third-youngest to reach the plateau at 30 years, 222 days.
Only Alex Rodriguez (29 years, 316 days) and Ken Griffey Jr. (30 years, 141 days) reached the 400-homer mark at an earlier age.
Hoping to end the Cardinals' slide is Garcia, who is coming off the best outing of his major league career.
On Sunday, Garcia surrendered just three singles and struck out six without a walk en route to his first career complete-game shutout, a 9-0 triumph over San Francisco. It was the fourth win in six decisions for the 24-year-old and second straight start in which he did not allow an earned run.
Garcia has yet to face the Nationals but is 3-0 with a 1.18 ERA in six outings against NL East opponents this season. In 12 road starts this year, the left-hander is 6-3 with a 3.41 ERA.
Washington, which improved to 8-16 this month, will counter with a southpaw of its own in Scott Olsen.
Olsen has lost four straight starts and five of his last six. The 26-year-old surrendered four runs and nine hits over six innings of a 6-0 loss at Philadelphia on Sunday.
In five career meetings with St. Louis, Olsen owns a 1-4 record and 6.10 ERA. Pujols is 4-for-15 (.267) with two home runs and six RBIs against him, while Matt Holliday is hitting .583 (7-for-12) with two blasts and three RBIs.
This season, Olsen has gone 2-3 with a 6.67 ERA in six home starts.