Washington @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 25, 2018 ) St. Louis 2, Washington 4

The St. Louis Cardinals are making a charge toward a postseason berth and will meet another team with playoff aspirations when they host the Washington Nationals on Monday for the opener of a four-game set. Washington lost at Chicago 4-3 on Sunday night when the Cubs' David Bote hit a walk-off grand slam while St. Louis rolled to an 8-2 triumph at Kansas City earlier Sunday, scoring seven runs over the final three innings en route to its fifth straight victory.

Paul DeJong extended his hitting streak to six games with a two-run homer, Yadier Molina delivered a tiebreaking two-run single and Patrick Wisdom went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in his major-league debut for the Cardinals, who are 2 1/2 games back in the National League wild-card race and trail the first-place Chicago Cubs by 5 1/2 in the NL Central. Washington was on the verge of taking two of three in Chicago before Ryan Madson served up a walk-off grand slam to pinch-hitter Bote with two outs in the ninth inning. The Nationals are 5 1/2 games behind co-leaders Atlanta and Philadelphia in the NL East and face the same deficit in the wild-card race. Ryan Zimmerman recorded one of Washington's three hits in the setback, a two-run single that improved him to 3-for-6 with two homers and eight RBIs over his last two contests.

TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, MASN (Washington), FS Midwest (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Nationals LH Tommy Milone (1-1, 5.50 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Miles Mikolas (12-3, 2.74)

Milone was solid in his first two starts after being brought up from the minors to fill in for an injured Stephen Strasburg but was knocked around by Atlanta in his last outing. The 31-year-old Californian, who has gone 7-4 with a 4.19 ERA and one complete game for Triple-A Syracuse this year, surrendered seven runs and 10 hits - three homers - over six innings en route to the loss. Milone has won both his career starts against St. Louis, allowing five earned runs while registering 10 strikeouts in 13 frames.

Mikolas won his fourth straight decision Tuesday as he gave up two runs and five hits over seven innings at Miami for his 16th quality start in 23 turns this season. The 29-year-old Floridian, who hasn't lost since June 29 against Atlanta, has allowed three runs or fewer in nine consecutive outings and 12 of his last 13. Mikolas made his lone career appearance versus the Nationals in relief while with San Diego on May 14, 2012, suffering the loss after yielding two runs on two hits and a walk in one-third of an inning at Washington.

WALK-OFFS

1. Cardinals INF Matt Carpenter is riding a 30-game on-base streak while Wisdom became the fifth player in franchise history and first since Ken Reitz in 1972 to record at least two hits, two runs and an RBI in his major-league debut.

2. Washington 3B Anthony Rendon (wrist) has been kept out of the starting lineup for the last two games but entered as a defensive replacement Sunday and hopes to start the series opener in St. Louis.

3. Three of DeJong's seven hits during his streak have been homers and he has driven in eight runs during a five-game RBI streak.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 6, Nationals 2