Keibert Ruiz hit a three-run homer as the visiting Washington Nationals rolled over the St. Louis Cardinals for a 14-3 victory on Saturday night.
Juan Yepez and Harold Ramirez also drove in three runs apiece for the Nationals in a game that was delayed 2 hours, 4 minutes because of rain. James Wood went 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs and Lane Thomas scored three times.
Jesse Winker went 2-for-3 with an RBI for Washington before leaving the game in the sixth due to the fact that he was reportedly traded to the New York Mets.
Nationals starter Jake Irvin (8-8) allowed two runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one.
Willson Contreras hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who have lost nine of their past 14 games.
St. Louis starter Kyle Gibson (7-4) allowed two runs on six hits and three walks in five innings. He did not record a strikeout.
Washington started the onslaught by moving ahead 1-0 in the second inning. Wood hit a double and later scored on Luis Garcia Jr.’s single.
The Nationals made it 2-0 in the third inning. Thomas hit a single, stole second and scored on Winker’s single.
Washington nearly broke the game open in the fourth inning, but Cardinals right fielder Lars Nootbaar made a diving catch on Jacob Young’s bases-loaded liner.
The Nationals grabbed a 9-0 lead in the sixth inning. Chris Roycroft walked Trey Lipscomb and Young, then walked Thomas one out later.
Matthew Liberatore relieved Roycroft and allowed Ramirez’s two-run double, Yepez’s two-run single and Ruiz’s three-run homer.
Contreras cut the St. Louis deficit to 9-2 in the bottom of the inning with his two-run homer.
Yepez made it 10-2 in the seventh with an RBI double. Matt Carpenter’s RBI single in the eighth trimmed that lead to 10-3.
With Cardinals infielder Brandon Crawford pitching in the ninth inning, Ramirez hit an RBI single, Wood smacked a two-run single and Garcia added an RBI single.
–Field Level Media
