WASHINGTON (AP) — Lance Lynn was sharper than he had had been all season, which made it all the more frustrating for him when he failed to make it out of the sixth inning.

Bryce Harper didn’t get past the sixth inning either, but for a completely different reason.

Lynn won his fourth straight start and delivered an RBI double after yet another error by Washington, and the St. Louis Cardinals scored three unearned runs to beat Jordan Zimmermann and the Nationals 4-3 Saturday.

Lynn (4-0) gave up one run and five hits over 5 2/3 innings in becoming the NL’s first four-game winner. After the right-hander lost his control in the sixth, Kevin Siegrist retired Danny Espinosa on a two-out fly ball with the bases loaded.

“I’m not going to lie to you, my stuff was better today than it’s been all year,” Lynn said. “That’s the disappointing thing about the way the game finished for me today.”

Harper, meanwhile, was pulled after Nationals first-year manager Matt Williams questioned the manner in which the young outfielder ran out a comebacker leading off the sixth.

“Lack of hustle. That’s why he came out of the game,” Williams said. “He and I made an agreement, this team made an agreement, that when we play the game, that we hustle at all times.”

Now in his third season, the 21-year-old Harper is one of Washington’s brightest stars. The two-time All-Star once ran into a wall in the relentless pursuit of a fly ball, but on this day Harper was left explaining an act of nonchalance.

“I respect what he did,” Harper said of Williams’ decision. “That’s part of the game.”

Tony Cruz drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who have won nine of the last 10 games between the teams.

St. Louis took control with a three-run second inning fueled by third baseman Anthony Rendon’s throwing error, capped by Lynn’s first career extra-base hit. The Nationals, under former Gold Glove third baseman Williams, are averaging more than an error per game and lead the majors in miscues.

“I feel like we made a mistake, a couple of minor mistakes that cost us, but we were in the game,” Williams said.

Trevor Rosenthal worked the ninth for his fifth save, but not without difficulty. Washington put runners on second and third with one out, and Kevin Frandsen drove in a run with a groundout before Rosenthal struck out Jayson Werth on three pitches.

Frandsen was batting in Harper’s spot in the lineup.

“Kevin Frandsen put on a nice ‘AB’ against Rosenthal,” Williams said, “but (Harper’s) spot came up with the ability to win the game. And that’s a shame for his teammates.”

Said Harper: “Man, that’s tough to watch, not being able to be up there in that situation. It’s something that I thrive on and I want to be in. You know, it’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Williams said Harper would start Sunday in the series finale.

Espinosa homered for the Nationals, but he was the only player to get past first base against Lynn until the sixth.

Zimmermann (1-1) allowed four runs, only one of them earned, in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two after coming in with a 0-3 with an 8.27 ERA in six career games against the Cardinals.

Zimmermann took the loss but probably deserved a better fate. The right-hander has beaten every NL team except St. Louis and Pittsburgh (one start).

St. Louis bolted in front for good in the second inning. After Rendon threw wide on a potential force play at second, Cruz sliced a two-out, two-run single to right field and scored on a double by Lynn. It was the pitcher’s first extra-base hit in 115 career at-bats and his fourth RBI.

“I was trying to hold it to a single,” Lynn joked. “I don’t like to run.”

The tainted inning extended a series trend that began Thursday night, when the Nationals made three errors, and continued Friday when Washington scored two unearned runs in a 3-1 win.

Espinosa led off the fifth with his first home run since last May 5.

In the Washington sixth, Werth singled and Adam LaRoche walked before Rendon looked at a third strike after getting ahead in the count 3-0. Lynn then walked Ian Desmond on four pitches before Siegrist retired Espinosa.

Matt Holliday delivered a two-out RBI single for St. Louis in the seventh, and successive doubles by LaRoche and Rendon got Washington to 4-2 in the eighth.

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington’s Ian Desmond took a substantial lead off third base in the seventh inning of a tie game, wondering whether St. Louis pitcher Michael Wacha might leave a changeup in the dirt.

“I was just kind of anticipating,” Desmond explained later.

Sure enough, Wacha threw a wild pitch that bounced away from catcher Yadier Molina, who compounded the problem with a throwing error as Desmond charged home, leading to a second unearned run on the play. That was enough to propel Gio Gonzalez and the Nationals to a 3-1 victory Friday night, ending their eight-game losing streak against the Cardinals.

“I saw it bounce off a little bit. I said, `We’ve got to take a chance here,” Desmond said. “And fortunately for us, it worked out.”

Said Nationals managed Matt Williams: “You never see a ball get away from Yadi. Ever.”

That’s because Molina has won six consecutive NL Gold Glove awards. But his miscue fit, somehow, with this series so far. A night after the Nationals made three errors — they initially were charged with four, but one was changed to a hit Friday — in an 8-0 loss, it was the Cardinals’ turn to be sloppy.

St. Louis finished with three errors, two coming in the pivotal seventh inning.

A pair of singles and an error by third baseman Matt Carpenter — who dropped Wacha’s throw of Danny Espinosa’s bunt — loaded the bases with no outs.

“I stretched before I saw where it was going and ended up missing it. It was a good throw. I should have caught it,” Carpenter said. “But it tipped off my glove and ended up being the difference in the game.”

Wacha struck out Nate McLouth and got Jose Lobaton to hit a roller that led to a forceout at home. But with pinch hitter Zach Walters up, Wacha’s pitch darted to his catcher’s right.

“Just spiked a changeup,” Wacha said.

Molina tried to make an underhand toss to Wacha, but the throw — which did not appear in time to beat Desmond, anyway — was off-target. It went into the Cardinals’ dugout, allowing Espinosa to score, too.

“I’m just trying to make a play,” Molina said. “I threw it away. My fault.”

Desmond shouted and punched the air, a 1-1 game suddenly 3-1.

“Desi made the decision instantly to get toward the plate,” Williams said. “He read it correctly.”

Wacha (2-1) gave up five hits and one earned run. On Sept. 24, in his ninth career start, Wacha no-hit the Nationals until there were two outs in the ninth inning, when Ryan Zimmerman’s infield single ended the bid.

This time, Washington had three hits by the third, when Anthony Rendon’s solo shot came off a first-pitch 74 mph curveball.

Gonzalez (3-1) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings, retiring the last 11 batters he faced. He had seven strikeouts and one walk as Washington beat St. Louis for the first time since Game 4 of the teams’ 2012 NL division series.

“It was one of those games that we needed. We needed to bounce back,” Gonzalez said about Friday. “We needed something like this. It put us back together. Now we go from here, one game at a time.”

Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard came on for the eighth and needed 26 pitches just to get one out. With runners on second and third, and No. 3-4 batters Matt Holliday and Allen Craig coming up, Clippard was replaced by Drew Storen.

“You’ve got two great hitters right there, guys in scoring position,” Storen said.

He was the closer back in October 2012, when he let the Cardinals erase a 7-5 deficit with two outs in the top of the ninth of Game 5 to win 9-7.

But this time, Storen got Holliday on a popup in foul territory, then Craig on a groundout, before Rafael Soriano shook off a comebacker that hit his leg and a walk in the ninth to earn his fourth save.

“A good win. They’re a tremendous team. They’ve gotten the best of us in the past,” Rendon said. “But we’re trying to change that.”

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Adam Wainwright threw a two-hitter Thursday night for his seventh career shutout, chipped in at the plate with a double and a single, and St. Louis benefited from four errors by Washington in the Cardinals’ 8-0 victory.

Wainwright (3-1) allowed Ian Desmond’s infield single in the second inning and Adam LaRoche’s single to right in the ninth. He struck out eight and walked three. During one dominant stretch, the runner-up for the 2013 NL Cy Young award retired 18 consecutive batters.

This was the right-hander’s 17th complete game and his fourth two-hitter.

Desmond, Washington’s shortstop, made a pair of errors, raising his season total to seven. The Nationals have 20 through 16 games, an average of 1.25.

Wainwright threw 110 pitches and finished the game by striking out Desmond.

Taylor Jordan (0-1) gave up seven runs, five earned, in 5 1-3 innings.

Matt Adams drove in three runs, Matt Holliday two, and the Cardinals finished with 14 hits. Everyone got in on the act: All nine members of the starting lineup had at least one hit.

St. Louis has won eight in a row against Washington, dating to Game 5 of the 2012 NL division series.

So far this season, the Nationals have beaten weaker opponents, going a combined 8-1 against the Mets and Marlins, and really struggled against better teams, going 1-6 against the Braves and Cardinals.

Remnants of last season, when the Nationals went 6-13 against the Braves, 0-6 against the Cardinals. It is as if Washington sees those clubs and forgets the basics of baseball.

“If you don’t play well against these guys, you’re probably going to get beat,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said before Thursday’s game. “We understand that we have to play the game right and play it well to have a chance to win.”

It was as if his players set out to prove him right.

The game’s first batter, Matt Carpenter, sent a seemingly routine grounder to Desmond, who failed to field the ball cleanly. Then Kolten Wong’s swinging bunt was grabbed by Jordan, but the pitcher could not manage to get the ball out of his glove. That, at least, was ruled a hit.

Up came Holliday, who bounced a double past diving third baseman Anthony Rendon to drive in a run. An RBI groundout scored another, and Yadier Molina’s single through a drawn-in infield made it 3-0.

There was more sloppiness in the fourth, when Desmond’s throwing error was compounded by an error on second baseman Danny Espinosa, who dropped the ball making the transfer on a potential double play, resulting in an RBI for Wainwright that gave St. Louis a 4-0 lead.

The Cardinals kept tacking on runs, including one off rookie reliever Blake Treinen. Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth dropped a flyball in the eighth, but St. Louis didn’t score that inning.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke realizes one victory doesn’t necessarily end the St. Louis Cardinals’ recent dominance over the Brewers.

But it’s a start.

Wily Peralta allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings, and the Brewers beat the Cardinals 5-1 Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.

Milwaukee, which entered the series with a nine-game winning streak, had one run and six hits in losing the first two games to St. Louis. The Cardinals won last year’s season series 14-5.

“What’s really important — most important — is we lost two games to begin the series and we got that game back,” Roenicke said. “It’s important against our division, but we have to win more games than they do. It’s not head to head. We have to win more games this season then they do. That’s what we’re playing for.”

Peralta (2-0) allowed six hits and struck out three, and three pitchers combined for scoreless relief.

“He was a show-stopper today,” Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. “He stopped their momentum and shut them down. He was a lot of fun to catch.”

Cardinals starter Joe Kelly (1-1) gave up an unearned run and three hits in four innings. Kelly left in the middle of the fourth inning with left hamstring tightness after trying to beat out a bunt attempt in the top half.

“I felt like I tried to step a little quicker, maybe a little overextend and hit the bag a little bit before it and ended up tweaking it,” said Kelly, who said he was scheduled to return to St. Louis for additional examination and treatment. “I was feeling pretty good. I had three pitches working for me first time the whole year. I had a slider, and a pretty good curve ball breaking down and had some velocity on my fastball and was locating it.”

Milwaukee went ahead in the third inning when first baseman Matt Adams misplayed Logan Schafer’s leadoff bouncer for an error, Peralta sacrificed and Carlos Gomez hit an RBI double to the wall in right-center, one pitch after bunting foul.

The Brewers boosted the lead to 4-0 in the fifth against Seth Maness. Wily Peralta reached when his two-out liner went off the glove of shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Gomez walked, Jean Segura reached on an infield single, Lucroy followed with a two-run single and Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single.

“I saw the replay,” Roenicke said on Wily Peralta’s hit. “I thought the ball did something funny on him. When they showed the replay from the center-field camera, you can see the ball slowly turn over, which gives you the idea it’s going to knuckle a little bit. It kind of jumped behind him.”

Allen Craig hit his first home run of the season, a sixth-inning drive off Peralta. Pat Neshek walked pinch-hitter Lyle Overbay with the bases loaded in the eighth.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Shelby Miller struck out seven and allowed three hits over six innings, and Mark Ellis had two RBIs in his return from the disabled list to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 win Tuesday night over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta each hit solo shots in the ninth off reliever Jim Henderson for the Cardinals, who handed Milwaukee its second straight loss following a nine-game winning streak.

Miller (1-2) routinely fired fastballs clocked into the mid-90s past hitters before turning the game over to the bullpen in the seventh.

Only Aramis Ramirez managed to break through off Miller hitting a solo homer in the fourth. The Brewers have just one run and six hits over the first two games of the three-game set with their NL Central rival.

Marco Estrada (1-1) took the loss after allowing three runs over six innings.

The right-hander, who was off to a good start with a 2.31 ERA entering Tuesday, had a little uncharacteristic trouble with his command. He hit Yadier Molina with a pitch in the second and threw a wild pitch in the fourth.

Still, Estrada allowed just five hits, which would have been more than adequate pitching during the Brewers’ long winning streak.

But that was before Milwaukee had to face the aces from St. Louis.

On Monday night, Lance Lynn shut down the Brewers, striking out 11 over seven innings. Miller was just as effective. He got Jean Segura to ground out to second and caught Ryan Braun looking on a 94 mph fastball to start the fourth.

The only big mistake was a fastball down the middle of the plate that Ramirez turned on for his second homer and team-best 12th RBI.

Miller, a 23-year-old righty, recovered nicely to end the fourth by getting Jonathan Lucroy to hit a one-hopper to first.

The Cardinals had built a 3-0 lead by the top of the fourth to back Miller. After missing the season’s first 13 games with left knee tendinitis, Ellis made a nice debut by driving in a run in the second on a groundout, and another in the fourth off a sacrifice fly.

St. Louis could have picked up a few more runs if not for a few blunders around the bases.

Allen Craig had an RBI double in the third but the inning ended after Estrada spun around to successfully pick him off. An inning later, both Matt Adams and Peralta were thrown out in rundowns in between third and home.

— Associated Press —