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Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals

Sat Sep 196:15 PM CTSt. Louis, MO
By JR·1 min read
Washington NationalsWSH(73-83)
St. Louis CardinalsSTL(76-80)
3—5
FINAL
Final123456789RHE
WSH
010002000371
STL
10100003—560

TLDR: Washington had taken the first two games of this series comfortably, but St. Louis needed only one big inning at Busch Stadium to make sure it wasn't a sweep.

Jake Irvin (2-9, 5.40 ERA) got the ball for Washington at 6:15 PM CT, five days off a start where he lasted just 5.2 innings and allowed 3 runs to San Diego. Quinn Mathews (2-3, 3.65) started for St. Louis fresh off his best turn of the year, a 6.2-inning, 1-run outing with 8 strikeouts against San Francisco.

FINAL
Spread
WIN
Total
Nationals
(73-83)
LWWLW
3
Cardinals
(76-80)
WLLLL
5
1st pitch87°

St. Louis put together a 3-run 8th inning to beat Washington 5-3 at Busch Stadium, avoiding a sweep after dropping the first two meetings of the series by a combined 17 runs. Quinn Mathews built on his best start of the year while Jake Irvin and Washington's bullpen couldn't hold a game that was tied entering the 8th.

Nationals
  • Took the first two games of the series by a combined 17-6
  • Tied it late with a 2-run 6th inning
  • Irvin worked off a rough 5.2-inning outing five days earlier
  • Committed the game's only error
  • Bullpen gave up the decisive 3-run 8th
Cardinals
  • Erased a 3-2 deficit with a 3-run 8th inning
  • Played clean defense with zero errors
  • Mathews came in off his best start of the season
  • Enters the finale at 76-80, eliminated from the postseason
  • Managed only 6 hits all night
  • Had lost 4 of its previous 5 games

Both rotations have been running on fumes for weeks. Washington is already without Connelly Early, DJ Herz and four other arms for the season, and St. Louis is playing without a corner infielder and a corner outfielder after ruling Blaze Jordan out for good on Friday. Neither club had much margin left before first pitch, on the mound or off it.

Andrew Alvarez
Andrew Alvarez
(2-6)·3.17 ERA
Sep 12 vs Angels
ND
7.0IP
0ER
8K
4BB
97P
09/19 Lineup
Michael McGreevy
Michael McGreevy
(7-9)·3.84 ERA
Sep 13 vs White Sox
W
6.0IP
1ER
6K
3BB
90P
09/19 Lineup
Washington Nationals
(8)
  • 15-Day-ILOrlando Ribalta (RP) — MRI results on Ribalta's right forearm came back negative Tuesday, Kyle Williams of TheBanner.com reports.09/09
  • 60-Day-ILConnelly Early (SP) — Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said Wednesday that Early (elbow) is tentatively scheduled to make his team debut Sept. 26 against the Mets, Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic reports.09/17
  • 60-Day-ILMatt Waldron (RP) — The Nationals placed Waldron on the 15-day injured list Tuesday, retroactive to Saturday, with chest inflammation.09/12
  • 60-Day-ILDrew Millas (C) — Millas will undergo surgery Friday on his fractured left index finger, Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic reports.09/10
  • 60-Day-ILDJ Herz (SP) — Herz (elbow) struck out two and allowed one hit and two walks over two scoreless innings in a rehab start Thursday with Double-A Harrisburg.08/21
  • 60-Day-ILPJ Poulin (RP) — The Nationals transferred Poulin (forearm) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL on Sunday.08/02
  • 60-Day-ILMitchell Parker (RP) — Parker underwent elbow ligament repair surgery with an internal brace Wednesday, Mark Zuckerman of NatsJournal.com reports.07/30
  • 60-Day-ILKen Waldichuk (RP) — Waldichuk (elbow) underwent Tommy John surgery and an internal brace procedure April 21 and is hopeful to return to game action at some point early in the 2027 season, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.06/11
St. Louis Cardinals
(5)
  • 10-Day-ILBlaze Jordan (3B) — Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Saturday that Jordan (ankle) will not play again this season, John Denton of Roundtable.io reports.09/19
  • 10-Day-ILJoshua Baez (LF) — The Cardinals placed Baez on the 10-day injured list Friday with a left oblique strain.09/18
  • 10-Day-ILEverson Pereira (RF) — Pereira (hand) began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis on Thursday, going 1-for-3 with an RBI single along with two walks.09/18
  • 15-Day-ILHunter Dobbins (SP) — Dobbins underwent reconstructive surgery on his right elbow Wednesday and is expected to require a 12-month recovery, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.09/04
  • 60-Day-ILMax Rajcic (RP) — Rajcic revealed on his Instagram account Thursday that he recently underwent a right elbow UCL reconstruction.07/23

Washington had won the first two meetings of this set by a combined 17-6, and the board reflected that lopsided run heading into Saturday.

St. Louis trailed 3-2 after Washington's 2-run 6th erased an early deficit, then flipped it with a 3-run 8th that put the game away without needing the bottom of the 9th. The Polymarket chat room's busiest 5-minute stretch of the night came right before that inning, with one poster typing, "if cards don't take it next inning they'll finish it bottom 9" — St. Louis made sure it never got that far.

Washington Nationals
(73-83)
09/20L@Cardinals3-5
09/19W@Cardinals8-5
09/18W@Cardinals9-1
09/16LvsPhillies0-3
09/15WvsPhillies6-3
St. Louis Cardinals
(76-80)
09/20WvsNationals5-3
09/19LvsNationals5-8
09/18LvsNationals1-9
09/16LvsGiants5-6
09/15LvsGiants3-10

The loss leaves Washington up 2 games to 1 in the set and closes out a season that will finish at 73-83, while St. Louis, already mathematically eliminated, moves to 76-80 with one clean, error-free night to point to in a stretch that had otherwise gone 1-4.

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