On a night when the Cardinals honored Hall of Famer manager Whitey Herzog, architect of the “Whiteyball” style of play for his slugging-challenged championship teams of the 1980s, the Cardinals and Washington Nationals seemed intent on trying to bring back some of that small ball.
The Cardinals tried two sacrifice bunts, both by starting pitcher John Gant, and both were successful. One led to their first run. The Cardinals also stole a base — Tommy Edman has all three of theirs this season — to set up another scoring chance, on which they didn't capitalize.
The Nationals tried to bunt on three occasions although they messed up all of them, striking out, being called for batter interference and popping up with a man at third and one out.
But in the end, bigger ball prevailed.
Kyle Schwarber, a former tormentor with the Chicago Cubs, doubled in a run in a two-run sixth inning for Washington and pinch hitter Andre Stevenson ripped a 409-foot homer off Giovanny Gallegos in the seventh as the Nationals walked away with a 5-2 victory.
The Cardinals had some bigger ball themselves. Yadier Molina, catching his 1,999th game, extended his hitting streak to nine games, smacking a 430-foot homer to deep right center in the sixth as the Cardinals cut the Nationals’ lead to one run. Temporarily.
The Cardinals, playing their first night game at home this season, have dropped three in succession after posting four consecutive victories.
Winners of just one of their previous six games, the Nationals struck quickly against Gant. Victor Robles tripled to right center off Gant’s first pitch of the game and came home on Juan Soto’s one-out single.
But Gant stopped the bleeding by inducing Josh Bell to ground into a double play started by shifted shortstop Paul DeJong, who threw to third baseman Nolan Arenado covering second. Arenado pivoted and threw to first well ahead of Bell to end the inning.
The Nationals had a chance to blow open the game in the third after Yan Gomes, the No. 8 hitter, singled and pitcher Erick Fedde, who was trying to sacrifice, walked.
Strangely, Robles also was in bunt mode after his three-base hit the first time up. He squared away four times without getting one down before finally being called out on strikes.
Trea Turner fanned on a Gant changeup and the Cardinals had no interest in pitching to dangerous Soto, whom they walked to fill the bases.
Gant fell behind Bell at 3-1 but got the switch hitter to swing at a changeup for strike two and fanned him with a sinker to dodge trouble and potentially turn momentum toward the Cardinals.
And, Matt Carpenter immediately got his first hit of the season, bunting for a single against the shift on a 3-1 pitch, beating a one-hop, off-line throw by Fedde, who barehanded the ball after picking it up between the mound and the third-base foul line. Carpenter had been nothing for 12 during the season despite several hard-hit balls and two for 37 in spring training.
Justin Williams flied out but Gant sacrificed Carpenter to second and Tommy Edman, hitting safely in his eighth successive game, delivered Carpenter with a single to right center to tie the score at 1-1.
Gomes opened the fifth with another single, Fedde again tried to bunt. It went toward toward Gant, who had bounced off the mound but the ball rolled through legs.
Having lost a possible play at second, Gant recovered and threw to first. His throw hit Fedde in the left side as Fedde neared the bag but Fedde was called out by home-plate umpire Dan Bellino, who ruled that Fedde had run outside the restraining line, on the infield side of the line, and flagged him for batter interference, with Gomes having to return to first.
Robles then fanned again and Turner grounded out as Gant completed five innings in a fairly tidy 72 pitches.
Carpenter reached base for the second time by walking with one out in the Cardinals’ fifth and Williams walked on four pitches.
Presto! Another sacrifice, Gant’s second of the night, moving runners to second and third with two out and provoking Washington manager Dave Martinez to call for righthanded reliever Kyle Finnegan to face Edman. But this time Edman grounded out.
Stevenson’s homer marked the first time Gallegos had been scored on this season in five games although the inning before an inherited runner came home from third base as Edman caught a foul ball near the box seats in right.
Since Gant did not retire a hitter of the three he faced in the sixth, Jack Flaherty is the only starter to get past five innings (six) in the first 10 games of the season. Starters have thrown 43 2/3 innings and relievers 44 1/3.
Besides Carpenter’s slump breaker, DeJong ended a nothing-for-26 slide with a single to open the seventh. Williams, who had been two for 19, singled with one out. But pinch hitter John Nogowski flied out and Edman struck out.
With the Cardinals still trailing by only two runs, veteran lefthander Andrew Miller failed to retire any of the three hitters he was required to face in the Washington eighth. Nor a fourth hitter either as the Nationals scored a run and had the bases loaded.
But righthander Ryan Helsley escaped with no further scoring on a strikeout of Gomes and a Ryan Zimmerman fly ball that turned into a double play as catcher Molina stepped up to meet center fielder Dylan Carlson’s throw and tagged Schwarber as he went by for the final out.
