WASHINGTON — The Cardinals’ offense finally is starting to live up to pre-season expectations.
Dylan Carlson led a 14-hit attack with two homers and the Cardinals won their fourth game in a row Tuesday night, matching their longest streak of the season, over the Nationals in Washington, D.C.
The Cardinals have scored eight or more runs in their last three games, the first time they have done that since 2017, and have hit at least two homers in all four games of their winning streak.
The offensive attack was more than enough support for Jordan Montgomery, who allowed only one run over seven innings.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Carlson hit a two-run homer in the second and added his second of the night leading off the sixth. It was his third career two-homer game … Willson Contreras had his first three-hit game as a Cardinal, including a pair of doubles, and drove in two runs … Paul DeJong hit the other home run for the Cardinals when they added two runs in the ninth … Brendan Donovan had three of their hits as every starter other than Nolan Arenado had at least one hit, and he drove in a run with a sacrifice fly … Jordan Walker singled in three at-bats to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.
On the mound: Montgomery allowed just four hits over his seven innings, with the only Washington run scoring in the fourth on a leadoff triple and two-out double. Montgomery did not walk a batter until the seventh and finished with six strikeouts … Drew VerHagen allowed a run in the eighth and Jake Woodford gave up the final Nationals’ run in the ninth.
Key stat: The Cardinals scored in six separate innings, three of them multi-run innings. During their four consecutive wins, they have scored in at least three innings in each game.
Worth noting: MLB officially announced on Tuesday that the Cardinals and Giants will play a game on June 20 next year in Birmingham, Ala., in a salute to the history of the Negro Leagues. The game will be played in historic Rickwood Field, the home to the Birmingham Barons of the Negro Leagues and the hometown of Hall of Famer Willie Mays.
Looking ahead: The Cardinals will send Miles Mikolas to the mound for the 3:05 p.m. game (St. Louis time) on Wednesday as they try to complete a sweep of the three-game series.
