St. Louis Cardinals Use Wong’s Bat to Win

The St. Louis Cardinals faced another tie, but this time they came out on top.

It took a big night at the plate by Kolten Wong to get the job done.

Wong homered in the second inning and added a game-deciding double late as the Cardinals topped the Washington Nationals, 7-5, on Wednesday at Nationals Park. The game was played as the nationally-televised contest on ESPN.

Wong’s three hits gave him six hits total in the past two games. His average has risen from .219 to .325, as the second baseman appears to be catching fire at the plate following a lackluster start to the season.

Here are the highlights from Nationals Park:

*Matt Adams appears to be waking up from a sound slumber. The first baseman banged out a pair of hits to improve his mark to .225, but considering he was at or below .200 since the start of April things look like they’re headed up.

*John Lackey didn’t have his best stuff, as evidenced by his 4.34 earned run average following the game, as he gave up five earned runs in just under six innings. Still, he did not pick up the decision, as Kevin Siegrist walked into the win courtesy of Wong’s go-ahead heroics.

Combined with the Chicago Cubs‘ 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in snowy conditions at PNC Park, the Cardinals once again have a comfortable 1-1/2 game lead on the Cubs and a 9-4 overall record.

The teams finish up the three-game set on Thursday at 4:05 p.m.