ST. LOUIS (AP) — After shutting out the Yankees for his first career complete game, Lance Lynn had a couple of duds.

With no margin for error, Lynn rediscovered his command while leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 1-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

“When you have stuff like that, that’s why you keep coming back,” Lynn said after throwing eight innings of two-hit ball. “It’s like golf. When you hit that drive like 310, that’s why you come back the next time.”

Matt Adams homered off a changeup down the middle by Jordan Zimmermann (5-3) in the second inning. It was Adams’ first swing since coming off the disabled list before the game.

“I was trying to make sure my timing was where it needed to be, see the ball and get the barrel on it,” Adams said. “Everything felt good.”

Lynn (7-4) struck out eight with no walks against the NL East leaders, who had won 10 of 13. Trevor Rosenthal added three more strikeouts in the ninth, working around rookie second baseman Kolten Wong’s two-out error on Denard Span’s routine grounder for his 18th save in 21 chances.

The Cardinals have won three 1-0 games, all on homers, with the others by Yadier Molina at Cincinnati on March 31 and Matt Holliday on June 10 at Tampa Bay.

Zimmermann gave up three hits, two of them by Adams, in eight innings. He threw 76 pitches for the lowest total in a complete game by a Nationals pitcher since the franchise relocated to Washington in 2005.

“I had a good fastball again, down in the zone, and the curveballs and sliders were there when I wanted them,” Zimmermann said. “Really, it was one mistake on a changeup that was down the middle. He made me pay.”

Zimmermann is 0-5 against the Cardinals and 0-2 against the Pirates, the only two NL teams he hasn’t beaten.

The Cardinals have won 10 of the last 12 regular-season meetings, and beat the Nationals in the 2012 NL division series. They are 20-5 overall at home against Washington.

“They were one pitch better than we were,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said. “So we’ll come get them tomorrow.”

Lynn retired his first 16 batters. He got some help from his defense when shortstop Jhonny Peralta went into the hole to snare Jayson Werth’s one-hop liner in the fourth and threw to first to end the inning.

Jose Lobaton singled with one out in the sixth for Washington’s first baserunner and took an extra base when Holliday bobbled the ball in left. But Zimmermann popped out and Span flied out to center to end the inning.

Lynn said he wasn’t overly disappointed by Lobaton’s hit.

“People get hits,” he said. “Not everybody throws a no-hitter every time, or it would be a boring game.”

Lynn is 22-9 at home for his career, and shut out the Yankees while throwing a career-high 126 pitches on May 27. He surrendered six runs in a total of 8 1/3 innings in a pair of losses in his next two starts at Toronto and against the Giants.

Lynn tinkered with his delivery before facing the Nationals. The difference was control of his two-seam and four-seam fastballs.

Zimmermann threw a two-hit shutout at San Diego his last start and worked 19 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings before Adams hit his fourth homer on a 1-0 pitch with two outs in the second. Adams was activated from the 15-day disabled list from a strained left calf earlier Friday and rookie Oscar Taveras was optioned to Triple-A Memphis.

The game was played in a snappy 2 hours, 3 minutes, fastest of the season at Busch Stadium.

“I wish we could do that every night,” Lynn said. “You could hang out with your family a little bit more.”

— Associated Press —

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays finally scored a run, and got a victory too.

Desmond Jennings had a two-run single during a four-run fourth inning and the Rays snapped a club-record 31-inning scoring drought en route to beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 Wednesday night.

“Outstanding,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. “The guys needed that, and you could just see them relax immediately.”

Tampa Bay, which won for just the second time in 16 games, had been shut out in its previous three games. The Rays had scored 35 runs over the previous 15 games.

“It’s been so awkward to watch this other side of this whole thing,” Maddon said. “I’m not going to say we’re cured, but I definitely believe it’s a step in the right direction.”

Yadier Molina had two RBIs for the Cardinals, who entered with three consecutive shutout pitching performances. St. Louis pitchers had their streak of 30 scoreless innings end.

The Rays’ big fourth inning came against Michael Wacha (4-5).

Matt Joyce had an RBI single, with a second run scoring when center fielder Peter Bourjos was charged with an error for misplaying the hit. After Wacha walked Yunel Escobar and Ryan Hanigan to load the bases, Jennings drove in two with a single.

“That’s a great feeling to come through and really kick-start the party,” Joyce said.

Wacha allowed four runs, four hits and four walks in five innings.

“He just never really found his fastball, for whatever reason,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “His timing was off and it was a fight for him.”

Wacha had given up three runs or less in 13 straight starts to begin the season, which was the longest season-opening stretch by a Cardinals pitcher since a 14-game run by Lee Meadows in 1917.

Bourjos was robbed of an extra-base hit with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth when right fielder Kevin Kiermaier made a full-extension diving catch on a liner.

“Kiermaier flying through the air, that’s the play of the game,” Maddon said. “Kiermaier’s play was totally uplifting.”

Bourjos called it unbelievable.

“Initially when it left the bat I didn’t see anybody over there,” Bourjos said. “But he covered a lot of ground.”

Tampa Bay extended its lead to 6-3 in the seventh on Evan Longoria’s RBI single and a sacrifice fly by James Loney.

Molina hit a two-run third-inning single before Matt Carpenter put the Cardinals ahead 3-0 on a run-scoring single in the fourth.

Rays starter Erik Bedard lasted just four innings, giving up three runs and eight hits. The left-hander entered with the best ERA (2.51) all-time in interleague play with at least 25 starts.

Juan Carlos Oviedo (2-2) went 1 1/3 innings for the win. Grant Balfour threw the final 2 1/3 innings for his 10th save.

— Associated Press —

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals are pitching so well all they need to win right now is one run.

Adam Wainwright became the National League’s first nine-game winner, and the Cardinals beat Tampa Bay 1-0 on Tuesday night, the Rays’ third straight shutout loss.

The Cardinals have three consecutive shutouts for the first time since April 2013. St. Louis, with 13 shutouts this season, was coming off 5-0 victories over Toronto on Saturday and Sunday.

“Our starting pitching has been extremely good these last few, to say the least,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.

It is the Cardinals’ first stretch of three consecutive road shutouts since Sept. 29, 1962-April 10, 1963, when St. Louis had four in a row.

“Pretty amazing,” said St. Louis slugger Matt Holliday, who homered.

Tampa Bay has been shut out an American League-leading 10 times this season. The Rays, who have lost 14 of 15, have not scored a run in a club-record 28 innings.

“It’s kind of weird to watch because it just doesn’t stay that negative for that long normally,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “It just doesn’t but it has. This is truly one of those anomaly moments where we’ve got to stick together as a group.”

Wainwright (9-3) scattered seven hits over seven innings. Trevor Rosenthal got the final four outs, including a bases-loaded pop fly by Matt Joyce in the eighth, for his 17th save.

Holliday put the Cardinals up 1-0 with his fourth homer this season, a long drive to left center with two outs in the sixth off tough-luck loser Jake Odorizzi (2-7).

Holliday and Kolten Wong both returned to the Cardinals’ lineup. Holliday was scratched Sunday due to a sore lower back, while Wong sat out three games with left shoulder soreness.

Holliday said his back is still a little stiff.

“Loosened up enough so I could get some good swings,” he said.

Odorizzi, a Cardinals fan who grew up about 30 miles from Busch Stadium, had a strong performance in his first game against St. Louis. The right-hander gave up one run and three hits in a career-high 7 1/3 innings.

“Today I felt I was really executing my pitches and nothing they could do was going to beat me,” Odorizzi said. “One mistake by me, and I got beat. It was the best outing I’ve ever had in the big leagues.”

Odorizzi had allowed one baserunner, a fourth-inning walk to Holliday, before giving up consecutive two-out singles in the fifth to Jhonny Peralta and Jon Jay. The inning ended on a fly ball by Peter Bourjos.

The Rays threatened in both the first and fourth innings. Ben Zobrist hit a fly ball with two on to end the first. Logan Forsythe lined out to second with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth.

“It’s a tough lineup, it really is,” Wainwright said. “They’re going through a funk, I know. As soon as we leave town, they’re going to break out. I’ve got a feeling.”

Sam Freeman inherited two runners and then got two key outs in the eighth before Rosenthal replaced him.

— Associated Press —