St. Louis Cardinals: Recapping the Series Loss Against the Nationals

After a six-game homestand followed by a three game series on the road against the Washington Nationals to begin the 2017 season, the St. Louis Cardinals’ record stands at 3-6.

The St. Louis Cardinals‘ first road series of the year got off to a miserable start, dropping games one and two to the Washington Nationals by scores of 14-6 and 8-3. In the third game of the series Wednesday, the Cardinals won 6-1. They’ve now lost two of three in each of the first three series they’ve played this season.

Monday, April 10: Nationals 14, Cardinals 6

W: Tanner Roark (2-0, 4.09)

L: Adam Wainwright (0-2, 7.00)

STL HR: Jedd Gyorko (1)

Tuesday, April 11: Nationals 8, Cardinals 3

W: Gio Gonzalez (1-0, 0.69)

L: Lance Lynn (0-1, 5.23)

STL HR: Randal Grichuk (2), Aledmys Diaz (3)

WSH HR: Daniel Murphy (2), Matt Wieters (1), Jayson Werth (3)

Wednesday, April 12: Cardinals 6, Nationals 1

W: Mike Leake (1-1, 0.60)

L: Max Scherzer (1-1, 2.13)

STL HR: Stephen Piscotty (1)

Up Next for the Cardinals: @ New York Yankees, April 14-16

Up Next for the Nationals: vs. Philadelphia Phillies, April 14-16

The series got off to a rough start for the St. Louis Cardinals, as they were tagged for twenty-two runs and thirty hits in the first two games. After Adam Wainwright and Lance Lynn each allowed two runs in five innings in their first starts of the season, both allowed six runs against the Nationals. Wainwright lasted four innings. Lynn lasted five.

The bullpen continued to raise concerns. Washington hitters torched the Cardinals’ relief corps with a .409 batting average in the three games. A silver lining was Trevor Rosenthal‘s return. He struck out the side in order in his first appearance this season

An offense that appeared hapless in two losses to the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend put up six runs in the first and third games of the series, but only three in the second game. Two of those three runs were courtesy of solo home runs hit by Randal Grichuk and Aledmys Diaz.

The Redbirds avoided the sweep in the third game of the series behind the arm of Mike Leake and the bat of Stephen Piscotty. Leake out-dueled Max Scherzer, the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League. The Cardinals have an off day Thursday before opening a three-game weekend series against the New York Yankees Friday in the Bronx.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the performances in the series loss against the Nationals.