Wednesday’s Game Report: Cardinals 6, Nationals 1
By Rob Rains
Normally players are very happy when a road trip ends and they head back home. It would be understandable if Jordan Walker didn’t feel that way on Wednesday night.
Walker capped off a big road trip with his third consecutive game with a home run, his fourth homer in the last five games on the trip to Detroit and Washington.
The homer, Walker’s fifth of the season, and three hits and three RBIs from Alec Burleson sent the Cardinals to the win over former teammate Miles Mikolas, who only worked three innings in his start.
In the six-game trip, Walker had eight hits in 25 at-bats, a .320 average, with the four homers and nine RBIs. He moved into the cleanup spot in the lineup for the last four games of the trip.
Wednesday’s win allowed the Cardinals to finish the trip with a 3-3 record.
Here is how Wednesday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Burleson’s first of his three singles in the second drove in two runs off Mikolas … It was a 2-1 game when Walker homered with one out in the fifth … Burleson delivered another run with his third hit in the seventh following back-to-back walks and scored JJ Wetherholt, who has reached base with a hit or walk in the first 11 starts of his career … Yohel Pozo padded the Cardinals’ lead with a two-run single in the ninth following a hit batter and walks to Burleson and Walker.
On the mound: Michael McGreevy became the first starter to go past five innings on the trip, allowing only four hits and the one Washington run over six innings. He did not walk a batter and only recorded one strikeout. He retired the last 11 hitters he faced … Matt Svanson walked the leadoff batter in the seventh but then retired the next five hitters in order. That walk produced the only Nationals batter to reach base after the third inning as the Cardinals retired 20 of the final 21 batters.
Key stat: With a home run in each game of the series, Walker became the first Cardinal to hit a home run in each game of a series against the Nationals since Matt Adams did it in 2014 at Busch Stadium.
Worth noting: Walker is tied for the NL lead in home runs with Derek Baldwin of the Braves … He did not hit his fifth home run last season until Aug. 28 and finished the season with six homers … Walker is the third Cardinal since 2010 to hit five homers in the first 12 games of the season, joining Nolan Arenado in 2022, Paul Goldschmidt in 2019 and Carlos Beltran in 2012.
Up next: The Cardinals will have the day off on Thursday before hosting the Red Sox over the weekend. Dustin May, who has struggled in his first two starts of the season, will start the opener on Friday night against his former team. Former Cardinals Sonny Gray started on Wednesday for Boston and will not pitch in the series.
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