Washington @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 13, 2018 ) Washington 6, St. Louis 7

The streaking St. Louis Cardinals look to extend their season-best winning streak to seven games when they host the struggling Washington Nationals on Tuesday for the second contest of their four-game set. Washington suffered a walk-off loss for the second straight night in the series opener as Paul DeJong belted a solo homer in the ninth inning to give the Cardinals a 7-6 win.

St. Louis suddenly is a contender in the National League wild-card race after a 10-2 start to the month as it climbed within two games of Philadelphia and Milwaukee, who hold the two spots. The red-hot Matt Carpenter smacked a three-run homer on Tuesday - his NL-leading 33rd of the season - and has gone deep 17 times during his 31-game streak of reaching base. The Nationals have dropped five of their last seven contests and are in danger of fading out of the postseason chase as they sit six games back in the wild-card race and seven behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East. Bryce Harper belted his 29th homer of the season, which ties for his second-highest output in seven major-league campaigns.

TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, MASN2 (Washington), FS Midwest (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Nationals LH Gio Gonzalez (7-8, 3.89 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH John Gant (4-4, 3.89)

Gonzalez gave up one run and six hits over seven innings while beating Atlanta in his last turn, his first win since May 28. The 32-year-old went 0-6 during an 11-start winless stretch and gave up five or more runs on four occasions. Gonzalez is 3-3 with a 2.05 ERA in eight career starts against the Cardinals and has shut down Carpenter (2-for-16) while struggling to retire Yadier Molina (7-for-20).

Gant defeated Miami in last turn as he gave up one run and two hits over six innings. The 25-year-old is holding opponents to a .162 batting average in seven home appearances (five starts) while going 3-3 with a 3.51 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. Gant is 0-1 with a 16.88 ERA in two career outings against the Nationals, with both turns occurring in 2016 while a member of the Braves.

WALK-OFFS

1. Nationals 3B Anthony Rendon (wrist) went 2-for-3 with three runs scored on Monday after missing back-to-back starts.

2. St. Louis 1B Jose Martinez recorded his third career four-hit performance in the series opener and has gone 11-for-20 during his five-game hitting streak.

3. Washington RHP Ryan Madson (back) revealed he was pitching in pain when he served up a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning to David Bote in Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 9, Nationals 3