4 takeaways from St. Louis Cardinals series split with Nationals

ST LOUIS, MO - SEPTEMBER 05: Jack Flaherty #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Washington Nationals in the first inning at Busch Stadium on September 5, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO - SEPTEMBER 05: Jack Flaherty #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Washington Nationals in the first inning at Busch Stadium on September 5, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 4
Next
ST LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 05: Jack Flaherty #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Washington Nationals in the first inning at Busch Stadium on September 5, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 05: Jack Flaherty #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Washington Nationals in the first inning at Busch Stadium on September 5, 2022 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Puetz/Getty Images) /

The Cardinals split a four-game set with the Nationals, leaving a feeling that more could have been done. 

The Cardinals had moments where they looked good, followed by moments of looking terrible. They lost Monday 0-6. The Cardinals won Tuesday 4-1 and Wednesday 6-5. They lost Thursday, 11-6.

The Cardinals traveled to Pittsburgh for a three-game set against the Pirates, a team that they have had great success against. Here’s hoping they have a reset and pounce. Albert Pujols has had some memorable moments against the Pirates. He could use a good series as he’s one homer from tying Alex Rodriguez at 696 career homers and five away from reaching 700 homers for his career.

The Cardinals are now 81-57 on the season with the split. They are eight games up in the NL Central on the Milwaukee Brewers, who are 73-65. The Cardinals return to St. Louis Tuesday to play a two-game set against the Brewers.

It is shaping up to be an exciting few weeks for the Cardinals.

Let’s take a look back at their series split with the Nationals.

Everything about Monday’s game was ugly for the Cardinals

The Cardinals lost 6-0 after going 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, leaving five on base. Not exactly what you expect from the Cardinals lately. Especially with Jack Flaherty making his first start in two months.

https://twitter.com/Cardinals/status/1566909079599349760?s=20&t=BEI-fnobD3l4tBm0ZMkLiQ

Flaherty earned the loss going five innings, giving up six hits, a walk, and one earned run. He did strike out six batters. Flaherty looked much better than he has in the past couple of seasons. The start was something Flaherty should build on.

Andre Pallante has been a bright spot this season but had a bad outing Monday. He pitched a third of an inning, giving up four hits, a walk, and four runs. Chris Stratton cleaned things up, pitching the final two-thirds of the sixth inning. He gave up one hit and one walk.

Zack Thompson pitched the seventh inning, giving up a hit and a walk. James Naile pitched two innings, giving up two hits, a walk, and one home run to Keibert Ruiz.