WASHINGTON (AP) — Two on, two out, a run in and a chance for St. Louis to take control of its game against the Washington Nationals.

Starting pitcher Adam Wainwright couldn’t wait to step to the plate.

Wainwright delivered a two-run double and pitched seven gritty innings Saturday night to help St. Louis secure a 9-4 victory.

Matt Holliday homered for the Cardinals, who took control with a four-run second inning highlighted by Wainwright’s fifth extra-base hit of the season.

With runners at the corners in the second, Wainwright lined the first pitch from Gio Gonzalez (3-3) into the left-center gap for a 3-0 lead.

“Several times a year, a pitcher has a chance to swing a ballgame in his favor with a positive plate appearance,” Wainwright said. “Sometimes that’s getting a bunt down, sometimes that’s getting a hit when you need it. Off a tough pitcher like Gio, you have to take advantage of those situations.”

Matt Carpenter, activated from the paternity list before the game, followed with an RBI double.

That started Wainwright (5-3) on a path to his fifth straight win. The right-hander allowed four runs and six hits — including a career record-tying three home runs. He struck out five and walked none.

“My stuff is back,” Wainwright declared. “I’ve just got to hone it a little bit. Home runs sometimes can cost you the lead or a loss, but luckily our offense did a good job.”

Wainwright received a whopping 45 runs of support in his previous six starts. The trend continued in this one — with the pitcher himself as a main contributor.

“I almost love to hit more than I love to pitch,” Wainwright said. “It’s close.”

He leads all major league pitchers this season in extra-base hits and RBI (a career-high eight).

“He’s had huge hits for us this year,” manager Mike Matheny said. “He smashed that ball today. He’s putting together some good at-bats. He’s also our best bunter. Just ask him.”

Ryan Zimmerman went 4 for 4 with two homers, and Bryce Harper had a solo shot for the Nationals, who send unbeaten Stephen Strasburg to the mound Sunday hoping to salvage a split of the four-game series.

Harper’s home run was his 13th of the season and second in three games. But the reigning NL MVP is 7 for 43 (.163) since May 13, dropping his batting average 33 points to .245.

After St. Louis’ big second inning, Zimmerman connected in the bottom half after Daniel Murphy hit a leadoff single. Murphy’s hit was his 41st in May, most ever in one month by a Nationals player since the team moved from Montreal in 2005.

Holliday went deep in the third and Randal Grichuk snapped an 0-for-11 skid in the fifth with an RBI double. The hit chased Gonzalez, who gave up six runs, six hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. Half those walks came in the pivotal second inning.

“That got his pitch count up,” manager Dusty Baker said. “Then it really hurt when Wainwright got that double.”

Harper homered to deep center in the sixth, and Zimmerman hit his second of the game leading off the seventh to get Washington to 6-4.

Matt Adams answered with a pinch-hit, two-run double in the eighth.

Greg Garcia had three hits and an RBI for the Cardinals. Recalled from the minors Thursday when Carpenter was placed on the paternity list, Garcia is batting .647 in 11 big league games this season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: SS Jhonny Peralta (left thumb ligament) was held from the Double-A Springfield lineup Saturday night after cutting a finger on his right hand. The cut, which required stitches, will interrupt his rehabilitation assignment for a few days.

Nationals: RHP Matt Belisle (right calf strain) received treatment in the Nats training room before packing a bag and driving to nearby Woodbridge, Virginia, for a rehab stint with Class A Potomac. “I feel great. Ready to rock,” said Belisle, who was slated to throw two innings.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (2-5, 5.04 ERA) starts the finale Sunday after allowing 20 runs in his last three starts, including a career-high eight in his last outing vs. Chicago.

Nationals: Strasburg (8-0, 2.79) is 11-0 with a 2.14 ERA in last 14 starts, dating to Sept. 15.

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Jaime Garcia rediscovered his winning form, pitching counterpart Max Scherzer lost the strike zone and then the game by allowing yet another home run.

Stephen Piscotty hit a grand slam off Scherzer during a five-run third inning and Garcia quieted the Washington Nationals lineup as the St. Louis Cardinals won 6-2 on Friday night.

Coming off consecutive ineffective starts, Garcia held Washington to two runs and seven hits over seven innings. The Cardinals had lost four of five.

“You can tell when his (sinker) is there,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Garcia, who opened the game with four scoreless innings. “He had very good movement and used his changeup and slider, but the sinker was a great pitch for him tonight.”

Scherzer allowed two earned runs in each of his previous three starts including his 20-strikeout gem on May 11 in a victory over Detroit. That version didn’t show early against St. Louis. He walked four batters and allowed five runs, all by the third inning. Scherzer surrendered three hits over seven innings.

Danny Espinosa’s second home run in as many games broke up Garcia’s shutout bid in the fifth.

Bryce Harper went 1 for 4 after hitting the go-ahead home run in Washington’s 2-1 series-opening win Thursday.

Greg Garcia homered for St. Louis, which scored six runs on four hits.

Jaime Garcia’s one-out single in the third was the first hit off Scherzer and started a stretch of five straight batters to reach base. After Scherzer walked Matt Holliday with the bases loaded to score Garcia, Piscotty made it 5-0 with his first career grand slam deep into the stands in left field.

“It wasn’t the home run pitch,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said of Scherzer’s troubles. “It was the walks before the home run. That’s what really hurt.”

Piscotty recognized Scherzer fell into slider-heavy rut against him.

“Including the (previous) at-bat he threw me four straight sliders,” the right fielder said. “Luckily I got that one.”

Scherzer, who finished with six strikeouts, then reversed course by retiring the final 14 batters he faced. He leads the majors with 15 home runs allowed and has alternated wins and losses over his last six starts.

“I know I’ve been giving up a ton of home runs,” Scherzer stated, “but that one, that’s just an execution thing. That’s just me not throwing the right pitch at the right time and with poor execution.”

With the victory, St. Louis improved to 25-24, avoiding falling below .500 for the first time since a 13-14 record on May 3.

In his previous outing against the Nationals this season, Garcia allowed four runs over 6 1/3 innings in a 6-1 home loss on April 30. He gave up eight runs and 15 hits combined over his last two starts.

“I made some adjustments I needed to make,” Garcia said. “That’s part of baseball, that’s part of pitching.”

NOT HERE FOR LONG

INF Greg Garcia began his second stint with St. Louis this season after being recalled from Triple-A Memphis on Thursday with Matt Carpenter placed on the paternity list. Along with the home run, he walked twice, scored two runs and started a double play. Yet with Carpenter expected back Saturday, he will probably return to Memphis despite batting .615.

STRANDED AT THE DRIVE-IN: Washington went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. Harper and Ryan Zimmerman each grounded into double plays with two runners on base. Zimmerman’s scored Harper in the sixth to make the score 5-2.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: 1B Matt Adams did not start, but was available despite leaving in the fifth inning of Thursday’s loss due to mid-back stiffness.

Nationals: RHP Taylor Jordan, who pitched for the Nationals during each of the previous three seasons, underwent Tommy John surgery on Thursday. Jordan, who made three appearances for Triple-A Syracuse this season, had the same procedure in 2011.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (4-3, 5.77 ERA) makes his first appearance against the Nationals since 2014. He is 7-3 with a 2.18 ERA all-time versus Washington.

Nationals: LHP Gio Gonzalez (3-2, 2.87) allowed seven runs and 10 hits over five innings in his previous start, a 7-1 loss to the New York Mets.

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even when he’s struggling at the plate, Bryce Harper knows how to put a good swing on a bad pitch.

Harper hit a slump-busting home run, Danny Espinosa also went deep and the Washington Nationals got seven strong innings from right-hander Joe Ross in a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

Washington trailed 1-0 in the sixth inning before Harper ended a 4-for-33 skid with a no-doubt-about-it shot into the upper deck, far beyond the wall in right field. It was his 12th homer of the season, the first since May 13.

“It felt good to get one,” Harper said. “It was the kind of pitch I could handle and do some damage.”

The light-hitting Espinosa snapped the tie in the seventh with a drive to right. Batting eighth, Espinosa came in with a .199 batting average and three home runs.

Both homers came off Mike Leake (3-4), who won his previous three starts while allowing only two runs over 21 innings.

“Hanging changeup and a hanging slider, right where hitters want the ball,” Leake said. “If you take those back, it’s a zero-run ballgame.”

The first-place Nationals have been winning in spite of Harper’s recent dry spell, but he was delighted to contribute to this one.

“It was good to get the `W,” he said.

Harper, the reigning NL MVP, is batting .245 after a 1-for-4 performance.

“I feel good. Swing feels great, hands feel good,” he said.

Ross (4-4) gave up one run and six hits over seven innings. He had lost four straight decisions since beating the Cardinals in St. Louis on April 30.

“I was hoping for him to get the win,” manager Dusty Baker said. “He had been trying so long.”

Felipe Rivero worked the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon got three straight outs for his 13th save.

Aledmys Diaz homered for St. Louis, 0-4 against Washington this season.

The Cardinals were without their top run producer, Matt Carpenter, who was placed on the paternity list earlier Thursday. He leads St. Louis with nine homers and 32 RBI.

“A couple solo home runs shouldn’t be enough to do that to us,” manager Mike Matheny said after the loss, “but we just had trouble doing anything offensively.”

Washington, in turn, went through the game with torrid-hitting Daniel Murphy on the bench. He was given the day off by Baker, who said, “One of their big bats is out of the lineup, so they offset. It worked out perfectly.”

The Nationals got runners on second and third with two outs in the second before Espinosa grounded out.

Diaz led off the fourth with his seventh home run, a drive to left into the St. Louis bullpen.

I GOT IT

One play before Espinosa’s home run, Stephen Drew hit a popup that was converged upon by third baseman Greg Garcia and Diaz, the shortstop, both of whom had their gloves raised to make the catch. The players collided and the ball popped out of Garcia’s glove — right into the mitt of catcher Yadier Molina, who was trailing the play.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: 1B Matt Adams left in the fifth inning with mid-back stiffness. He will be re-examined Friday. … INF Jhonny Peralta will report to Double-A Springfield on Friday after going 3 for 13 in five rehab games at Single-A Peoria. Peralta was operated on in March to repair an injured ligament in his left thumb. Matheny says, “He’s one guy on the immediate radar to help us.”

Nationals: Reliever Matt Belisle (right calf strain) will make a rehab appearance Saturday with Class A Potomac. The 35-year-old tossed a scoreless inning in both his previous outings with Potomac.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia (3-4, 3.59 ERA) enters Friday night’s game in bounce-back mode after giving up a total of eight runs and 15 hits in his last two starts.

Nationals: RHP Max Scherzer (5-3, 3.80) is 1-2 lifetime against St. Louis, but he threw seven shutout innings against the Cardinals on May 1.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jake Arrieta got some help from the Cubs’ offense to stay perfect.

Arrieta remained unbeaten on the season despite allowing as many as four runs for the first time in nearly a year and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-8 on Wednesday.

“I picked a good day to be (bad),” Arrieta said.

“I was aggressive but they had a good game plan coming in and it was a good thing our offense was able to be extremely productive today.”

Arrieta (9-0) joined the White Sox’s Chris Sale as the only nine-game winners in the majors.

Arrieta allowed four runs in a regular-season game for the first time since June 16, 2015.

“We grind whoever it is,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “We acknowledge the fact that he’s a good pitcher and has had a good start, but I think for us to give him too much credit and go up defeated it a bad route.”

Arrieta became the first Cub to win his first nine decisions since Kenny Holtzman in 1967 and it is the best start to a season for the franchise since Jim McCormick went 16-0 in 1886.

The Cubs have won Arrieta’s past 23 starts, a franchise record.

“There was not any good flow to his pitching today,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “You look at the gun everything’s normal. The guy competes.”

Kris Bryant hit a three-run homer and Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist each drove in two runs for the Cubs.

Bryant drove a 3-2 pitch from Seung Hwan Oh about 411 feet in the sixth inning, giving the Cubs a 9-4 lead. Bryant has homered in three of his past six games.

The Cubs sent 11 men to the plate in a six-run second, five of the runs scored with two outs. Heyward’s two-run double and Zobrist’s two-run single capped the scoring as Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez threw 38 pitches.

Hector Rondon earned his eighth save.

Stephen Piscotty, hitting .360 in May, had an RBI single in the first to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. It was the first run Arrieta had given up in the first inning of a regular-season game since May 29, 2015.

Randal Grichuk’s solo homer in the second inning cut the Cubs’ lead to 6-2 and was the first homer Arrieta had given up in 51 regular-season innings, which was the longest active streak in the majors.

The Cardinals made it 6-4 in the fourth on RBI hits by Matt Adams and Grichuk and they loaded the bases again in the fifth, but Cubs third baseman Tommy La Stella bailed out Arrieta with a diving stop on Grichuk’s grounder and forced Yadier Molina at second.

“I think that was one of the turning moments in the game,” Bryant said. “The momentum could have completely changed. I think that was the play of the game.”

Matt Holliday snapped a 3-for-39 slump with a three-run homer in the sixth to make it 9-7. Adams hit his second homer of the series in the seventh to cut it to a one-run deficit.

“Grichuk I mean is really swinging the bat well,” Maddon said. “Adams got toasty at the wrong time and up and down their lineup Piscotty’s a good player, (Aledmys) Diaz does swing the bat that well, they don’t quit that’s why they win championships.”

Martinez (4-5) lost his career-high fifth straight start.

BUNDLE OF JOY

Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter, hitless in 16 at-bats against Arrieta, was out of the lineup Wednesday because he was with his wife, who went into labor before the game with their first child. Kolten Wong hit in Carpenter’s leadoff spot.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Acquired OF Jose Martinez from the Kansas City Royals for cash considerations and assigned him to Triple-A Memphis. RHP Mitch Harris (elbow) was moved to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Martinez on the 40-man roster.

UP NEXT

Cubs: LHP Jon Lester (4-3, 2.60 ERA) will kick off a 10-game homestand Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies. Lester is 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA in six starts against the Phillies.

Cardinals: RHP Mike Leake (3-3, 4.07 ERA) will make his 10th start of the season, starting a seven-game road trip at the Washington Nationals. Leake is 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA in his past three starts.

— Associated Press —