ST. LOUIS -- Howie Kendrick just missed the cycle, but he will take the win instead for the Washington Nationals.
Kendrick finished a double shy of hitting for a cycle, Patrick Corbin pitched six strong innings, and the Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Tuesday night.
Kendrick flew out in his third at-bat and walked in his last at-bat.
"I knew I had a chance to do it," Kendrick said about hitting for the cycle. "In that last at-bat, I would have liked to have a chance to hit. If it's meant to be, it would have happened. We are all pulling for each other. All these games are big and it's nice to get a win. It's fun."
St. Louis leads the NL Central by two games over the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers, and the Nationals hold the NL's top wild card by 1 1/2 games over the Cubs and Brewers. So two games separate the four teams for three playoff spots in the National League.
Corbin (13-7) struck out 11 while giving up 2 unearned runs and 5 hits in 6 innings. He walked four in his second win in two starts at Busch Stadium. The last one came May 20, 2016, when he pitched for the Diamondbacks.
"I felt really good all night. I had good fastball command on both sides of the plate, and my slider was really good," Corbin said. "They came out, and they're pretty aggressive so I was able to use that pitch a little bit more. They're a great team over there. You make a mistake, and you'll pay."
Daniel Hudson got the last six outs for his fourth save.
"They've got one of the best pitching staffs in the league. Period," Kolten Wong said. "Corbin's one of the best lefties in the game. He kept us off-balance. He did his thing."
Miles Mikolas (9-14) pitched six innings before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter. He allowed three runs on eight hits and became the first Cardinals pitcher to lose 14 games in a season since Braden Looper went 12-14 in 2008.
Kendrick hit a solo home run in the fourth, giving Washington a 2-1 lead. Since returning from the injured list Aug. 12, Kendrick is hitting. 466 (27 for 58) with 7 doubles, 4 home runs, 13 RBI, 4 walks and 14 runs scored in 23 games. His 16 home runs this season are his most since he hit a career-high 18 in 2011 when he played for the Los Angeles Angels.
Juan Soto led off the sixth with a double. The play was close at second, and St. Louis challenged the safe call. The decision stood after a review of 1 minute, 29 seconds. He later scored on a two-out single by Victor Robles to extend Washington's lead to 3-1.
The Cardinals made it 3-2 in the sixth when Harrison Bader stole second as pinch-hitter Jose Martinez struck out. The throw by Yan Gomes went into center for an error, and Tommy Edman scored from third.
Robles drove in a run in the eighth on a single, and Gomes hit an RBI double to give the Nationals a 5-2 edge. Washington added a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Soto.
St. Louis loaded the bases with one out in the third but only managed one unearned run to tie it 1-1. Mikolas scored on an error by shortstop Trea Turner with two outs.
"Patrick Corbin had the bases loaded there. It was a fantastic job of pitching to give up just the one run," said Chip Hale, who is filling for ailing Manager Dave Martinez. "That was a pivotal part of the game."
Washington took a 1-0 lead in the second. Kendrick led off with a triple that hit the wall in center. He scored on Asdrubal Cabrera's sacrifice fly.
Sports on 09/18/2019