Walkoff Sends St. Louis Cardinals to Loss

It was a night where the St. Louis Cardinals bats just could not get untracked.

The Cardinals tied things up late, only to have Yunel Escobar untie things in a hurry as the Washington Nationals won, 2-1, on Tuesday in the opener of a six-game road trip.

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Escobar’s homer, off Cardinals reliever Carlos Villanueva, came in the bottom of the 10th inning and spoiled a game that saw the Cardinals bang out 13 hits.

Here are some of the low-lights from Nationals Park:

*So much for Matt Holliday being bothered by back tightness. Holliday went 4-for-4 on Tuesday, including an RBI, and his average rose to .425.

*Kolten Wong, who had been light-hitting in the first two weeks, broke through with three hits and a walk as his average rose to .278.

Now for a couple questions:

*Where was Trevor Rosenthal? Unless manager Mike Matheny wanted to save his closer for a sure-fire save situation or give him a night of rest, this would have been a fantastic time to put Rosenthal in for an inning.

*What does Lance Lynn have to do to get a win around these parts? He struck out seven and lowered his ERA to 1.56, but all he has to show for it is a crummy 1-1 record. This despite four walks and 19 strikeouts in three starts. Lynn has to be scratching his head right now.

This was a rough loss for St. Louis, especially with the Chicago Cubs coming from behind to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. St. Louis is now 8-4, with the Cubs a half-game back at 8-5.

Mark your calendars, Cardinals fans. May 4-7 could get quite interesting at Busch Stadium.