ST. LOUIS — Keibert Ruiz hit a three-run homer 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 previous 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 into the (strike) zone, especially with the guys on base,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said. “We talk all the time: the pressure is on the shooter when you have guys in scoring position. Don’t put pressure on yourself. Put the ball in the zone. And we started doing a better job with that later.”
James Wood struck out four of Washington’s 16 hits and scored on Luis García Jr.’s RBI single. Yepez had two hits and three RBIs, and Jesse Winker scored twice. During the game, Winker discovered he had been traded for the New York Mets.
“I was being kind of picky with what I was trying to hit and I got pitches where I could do that,” said Wood, who made his major league debut on July 1 and had no 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 dropped a ball on his left arm, which he broke earlier in the season when Contreras was hit by a bat.
Louis lost its third straight and has lost nine of the last 14 to fall out of 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 thrown for the second time, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a delay after throwing a long toss and I’m almost ready to go to the mound, frankly,” Gibson said.
“It’s an unfortunate time, but it’s just part of it. You have to adapt and adjust and try to prepare.”
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 one batter with a pitch, but stranded eight runners.
“He didn’t feel good from the first pitch today, and he’ll tell you that,” St. Louis manager Oli Marmol said. “I thought he sailed very well. Normally, when a guy doesn’t feel good, he can give in a lot more than that.”
The Cardinals beat 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 blow in the Nationals’ 10-8 victory on Friday night. Young, celebrating his 25th birthday, again came up with the bases loaded and pulled a line drive to right field.
Wood did not recognize that the ball was reachable and was unable to score after falling behind to third.
Washington again loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Gibson retired Ruiz on a pop-up 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, threw a bullpen session Saturday with the intention of simulating two innings of work. The Cardinals hope he can face hitters in a game next week. Matz has been out since May 3.
NEXT
In the three-game series finale, 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 make his ninth start career. Mikolas pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Nationals on July 8.
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