WASHINGTON — Through all the shortened starts and games where the offense fell short the Cardinals have asked their bullpen to do a little bit of everything and more so far this season. With a strong start from Adam Wainwright and slim lead from some timely hitting, the Cardinals finally, in game No. 17, got a chance to put their bullpen work as they intended.
It did not go as imagined.
Tasked with holding a one-run lead through the inning, setup reliever Giovanny Gallegos hit a batter, walked three, and forced the go-ahead run home with a bases-loaded walk to send Washington to a 3-2 victory Tuesday night at Nationals Park. Gallegos allowed one hit — but the two runs were enough to flip the game and blow the save before closer Alex Reyes threw a pitch.
The Cardinals tried a little bit of everything to pull Gallegos out of the mess created by a leadoff walk, a hit batter, and a game-tying single — all before the first out.
They brought the infield in for the first out.
That worked so well the Cardinals intentionally walked Kyle Schwarber to load the bases and then swapped infielder Edmundo Sosa into the game for center fielder Scott Hurst. They went to a five-man infield — in the eighth inning — of a tie game. The inventive wall of infielders, which is not uncommon when a home team can walk off a game, never got a chance to see if it worked when Gallegos struck out Starlin Castro with a called strike three. That reprieve in the inning was brief.
Gallegos struggled to find the strike zone with Yan Gomes and pushed in the go-ahead run with a walk. Whatever the numbers — one run lead, three outs to get, five infielders to get them — and the game came down to not having a fourth base to put a runner.
The Cardinals got the tying run into scoring position in the ninth, but that’s where Yadier Molina finished the game, watching as two fly balls ended what had been a pitching duel.
Adam Wainwright became the first Cardinals starter to complete the seventh.
What Patrick Corbin did through six innings and 76 pitches it took reliever Tanner Rainey 12 pitches to take apart.
Despite the lefty’s expedient and efficient shutout of the Cardinals through six innings and his spot in the order coming up third in the bottom of the inning, Nats manager Dave Martinez went to the bullpen to hold a 1-0 lead. By the time Rainey faced his third batter, the Cardinals had tied the score and were a ball in play away from a lead.
Rainey walked Yadier Molina, the first batter he faced.
Molina saw 10 pitches in the at-bat before taking a full-count ball.
The next batter, rookie Dylan Carlson, drilled his second triple in as many days to score Molina from first, knot the score, 1-1, and put the go-ahead run 90 feet away. Two batters later Austin Dean skyed a fly ball to left that was plenty deep enough to score Carlson.
Unlike Martinez, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt stuck with his starter.
In a similar spot — up by a run, his spot in the order due up in the next inning — Wainwright stayed in the game and promptly struck out the side. Gomes greeted Wainwright in the seventh inning with a nine-pitch at-bat to lead off. The ninth pitch was a 92-mph fastball that caught the edge of the strike zone for a called strike three. The next two Washington hitters didn’t stand for that same pitch. They swung over it. Victor Robles whiffed on a 91.7-mph sinker for Wainwright’s ninth strikeout of the game, and pinch-hitter Yadiel Hernandez set himself up for Wainwright’s curveball.
When he got it, he swung over it.
Wainwright’s 100th and final pitch got him a 10th strikeout.
For the veteran right-hander, making his 278th start with catcher Molina, it was his first 10 strikeout game since May 2019.
The only blemish on Wainwright’s line was the solo homer by Josh Bell in the sixth inning. Wainwright had struck out the previous three batters on three different pitches — curve, cutter, and sinker — before hanging a curve that Bell lofted for his first home run as a National.
Homers had been Corbin’s undoing so far this season. The lefty allowed 15 earned runs in his first 6 1/3 innings this season, and that included four home runs in the 11 hits allowed. Corbin’s ERA when he began the night against the Cardinals was 21.32. The race was on for both breaking-ball veterans to shave their ERAs. Wainwright started the day at 7.11 and after his first quality start of the season cut his to 5.03. Corbin’s six shutout innings more than cleaved his ERA in half, to 10.95.
