WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
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.
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.
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.
The Cardinals, last in the NL Central, have scored 30 runs during their four-game win streak.
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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