Nationals roar ahead with 7-run inning, hand Cardinals third straight loss: 14-3

Harold Ramírez came in as a substitute and hit a two-run double and Juan Yepez followed with a two-run single before Ruiz hit a run into the leftfield bullpen to make it 9-0.

“We’ve got to get the ball in the (strike) zone, especially with guys on the bases,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said. “We talk all the time: The pressure is on the pitcher when you have guys in scoring position. Don’t put pressure on yourself. Get the ball in the zone. And we started doing that better later on.”

James Wood had four of Washington’s 16 hits and scored on Luis García Jr.’s RBI single in the second. Yepez had two hits and three RBIs, and Jesse Winker had two singles. During the game, Winker learned he had been traded to the New York Mets.

“I was a little picky with what I tried to attack, and I was able to get pitches where I could do that,” said Wood, who made his major league debut on July 1 and had not had more than two hits in any of his first 21 games.

“It’s fun. I see a lot of growth in our young players and they care,” Martinez said.

Jake Irvin (8-8) struck out five in 5 1/3 innings and surrendered two runs on Willson Contreras’ home run in the sixth. Contreras had a brief scare in the fourth inning when Ruiz hit a ball off his left arm, which had been broken earlier in the season when Contreras was hit by a bat.

St. Louis lost its third straight game and has lost nine of its last 14 games, dropping out of a wild-card position. The start of the game was delayed by more than two hours because of rain.

“That was probably one of the worst starts I’ve had in a long time. Just getting going that second time, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a slowdown after I’ve had a long toss and I’m almost ready to go to the mound, honestly,” Gibson said.

“It’s unfortunate timing, but that’s just part of it. You have to adapt and adjust and try to get yourself ready.”

Kyle Gibson (7-4) struggled with his control and gave up two runs in five innings. He surrendered six hits, three walks and hit a batter with a pitch, but stranded eight runners.

“He didn’t feel good today from the first pitch, and he’ll tell you,” St. Louis manager Oli Marmol said. “I thought he handled it really well. Normally when a guy doesn’t feel good, he can admit a lot more than that.”

The Cardinals have walked the Nationals 16 times in the first two games of the series, eight in each game.

Lars Nootbaar kept the Cardinals close with a sliding catch in the fourth inning to rob Jacob Young, whose three-run triple in the 10th inning was the deciding hit in the Nationals’ 10-8 victory on Friday night. Young, celebrating his 25th birthday, again loaded the bases and lined a ball to right field.

Wood didn’t realize the ball was catchable and couldn’t score because he was too late in passing it to the third baseman.

Washington got the bases loaded again with one out in the fifth inning, but Gibson popped out Ruiz before García was eliminated.

St. Louis manager Oli Marmol said LHP Steven Matz, on the 60-day injured list with a lower back injury, threw a bullpen session Saturday that was meant to simulate two innings of work. The Cardinals hope he can face batters in a game next week. Matz has been out since May 3.

In the finale of the three-game series, RHP Miles Mikolas (8-8, 5.02 ERA) will start for the Cardinals against Washington rookie LHP DJ Herz (1-4, 4.95), who will be making his ninth career start. Mikolas threw 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Nationals on July 8.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb