WASHINGTON — Dylan Carlson homered twice, Willson Contreras went 3-for-4 with two doubles to break out of a slump, and the St. Louis Cardinals won their fourth straight, 9-3 over the skidding Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.
Carlson’s first homer was a two-run shot that opened the scoring in the second inning and traveled 445 feet, landing halfway up the batter’s eye berm behind the center field wall. He went deep again leading off the seventh. It was Carlson’s third career multi-homer game and first of the season.
“Definitely felt good to go to the big part of the yard, no doubt,” Carlson said. “I wouldn’t mind it some more times hopefully to come. Ultimately, just trying to keep it simple. I wasn’t going up there trying to hit homers by any means.”
Paul DeJong added a two-run shot in the ninth, his 11th homer this year, as the Cardinals finished with 14 hits.
Jordan Montgomery (4-7) retired his first seven batters and matched a season high by pitching seven innings, allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts. After losing seven straight decisions, Montgomery has won two in a row.
“Changeup was good there for the first couple of innings and then kind of settled in with my fastball down and mixed in some four-seamers up,” Montgomery said. “Just getting quick outs with my sinker and my changeup. That team is really aggressive. They were swinging, so kind of just trying to get them on the ground or get them out early.”
MacKenzie Gore (3-6) gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings for the Nationals, who have lost five straight and 13 of 15. Washington has lost nine of Gore’s last 10 starts.
“It’s kind of the way it has been lately,” Gore said. “I made some pitches in the middle of the plate and they are doing damage right now. The homers killed me again. They hit some doubles too on some pitches that were over the plate. I just got to do a better job of keeping the ball in the ballpark. I stunk today. We are struggling right now and we are just frustrated.”
Contreras, who signed an $87.5 million contract in the offseason to replace longtime Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, entered in a 15-for-104 slump (.144). He started at designated hitter Tuesday and doubled in the fourth and fifth, singled in the seventh and was hit by a pitch in the ninth, finishing with two RBIs.
“It’s just a matter of time for this guy,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s comfortable. He’s taking good at-bats. We talked about when he’s driving the ball to right side of the field its a good thing. We are going to need him. Today was a really good day.”
The Cardinals, last in the NL Central, have scored 30 runs during their four-game win streak. Now they have a shot at their first series sweep since May 12-14 at Boston.
“Sometimes you just have to have confidence before things start to go your way,” Marmol said. “This group has been trying that for a while now and they haven’t given in at all. So to be able to see them get rewarded is good.”
St. Louis rookie Jordan Walker extended his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games with a second-inning single. Brendan Donovan went 3-for-5 for the Cardinals, and Paul Goldschmidt singled twice, scored twice and drove in a run.
The Nationals got within 2-1 in the fourth when Lane Thomas led off with a triple and scored on Stone Garrett’s two-out double. Montgomery struck out Dominic Smith to end the threat.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: RHP Jordan Hicks was unavailable Tuesday night after closing three straight games.
Nationals: 3B Carter Kieboom was placed on the injured list by Triple-A Rochester. He had an MRI Tuesday after tweaking his left oblique.
UP NEXT
RHP Miles Mikolas (4-4, 4.36 ERA) starts for St. Louis on Wednesday as it seeks a three-game sweep ahead of its trip to London to face the Chicago Cubs in a two-game weekend series. Trevor Williams (3-4, 4.50) takes the mound for Washington.
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