Nationals roar ahead with 7-run inning, hand Cardinals 3rd straight loss 14-3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Keibert Ruiz hit a three-run home run to cap Washington’s seven-run outburst in the sixth inning, and the Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 14-3 on Saturday night.

After failing to score with the bases loaded in each of the prior two innings, the Nationals finally broke the game open after Cardinals reliever Chris Roycroft walked three of the four batters he faced.

Harold Ramírez came off the bench to hit a two-run double and Juan Yepez followed with a two-run single before Ruiz’s blast into the left-field bullpen made it 9-0.

“We have to get the ball in the (strike) zone, especially with guys on base,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said. “We talk all the time: The pressure’s on the pitcher when you’ve got guys in scoring position. Don’t put the pressure on yourself. Get the ball in the zone. And we started doing a better job with that later.”

James Wood had four of Washington’s 16 hits and scored on Luis García Jr.’s RBI single in the second. Yepez had two hits and three RBIs, and Jesse Winker singled twice. During the game, Winker learned he had been traded to the New York Mets.

“I was kind of being picky with what I was trying to attack, and I was able to get pitches where I was able to do that,” said Wood, who made his major league debut on July 1 and hadn’t had more than two hits in any of his first 21 games.

“It’s fun. I see a lot of growth in our young players, and they care,” Martinez said.

Jake Irvin (8-8) struck out five in 5 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on Willson Contreras’ home run in the sixth. Contreras had a brief scare in the fourth inning when Ruiz fouled a ball off his left arm, which was broken earlier in the season when Contreras was hit by a bat.

St. Louis lost its third straight and has dropped nine of its last 14 to fall out of a wild-card position. The start of the game was delayed more than two hours by rain.

“That was probably one of the least fun starts I’ve had in a long time. Just getting fired back up that second time, I don’t know that I’ve ever had a delay after I’ve played long toss and am about ready to go to the mound, quite frankly,” Gibson said.

“It’s unfortunate timing, but it’s just part of it. You’ve got to adapt and adjust and try to get yourself ready.”

Kyle Gibson (7-4) struggled with his command and gave up two runs in five innings. He gave up six hits, walked three and hit a batter with a pitch but stranded eight runners.

“He didn’t feel good from pitch one today, and he’ll tell you that,” St. Louis manager Oli Marmol said. “I thought he navigated that really well. Usually when a guy doesn’t feel good, he can give in a lot more than that.”

The Cardinals have walked 16 Nationals in the first two games of the series, eight in each game.

Lars Nootbaar kept the Cardinals close with a sliding catch in the fourth inning to rob Jacob Young, whose three-run triple in the 10th inning was the decisive hit in the Nationals’ 10-8 win on Friday night. Young, celebrating his 25th birthday, again came up with the bases loaded and pulled a line drive to right field.

Wood didn’t recognize that the ball was catchable and couldn’t score after he was late tagging up from third.

Washington again loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Gibson retired Ruiz on a popup before García lined out.

TRAINER’S ROOM

St. Louis manager Oli Marmol said LHP Steven Matz, on the 60-day injured list with a lower back strain, pitched a bullpen session Saturday intended to simulate two innings of work. The Cardinals hope he can face hitters in a game next week. Matz has been out since May 3.

In the finale of the three-game series, RHP Miles Mikolas (8-8, 5.02 ERA) is set to start for the Cardinals against Washington rookie LHP DJ Herz (1-4, 4.95), who will be making his ninth career start. Mikolas threw 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Nationals on July 8.

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