WASHINGTON (AP) — Andre Pallante took a shutout into the eighth inning in the second-longest outing of his career, and the St. Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to seven with a 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday.
Ryan Helsley allowed the Nationals to load the bases in the ninth but retired CJ Abrams on a first-pitch flyball for his seventh save in nine chances.
The Cardinals couldn’t quite close out a third straight shutout. Dylan Crews hit a two-run homer in the eighth for the first runs against St. Louis since the sixth inning Tuesday night against Pittsburgh. The Cardinals followed that up with a 5-0 win over the Pirates and then opened the series in Washington with a 10-0 victory.
All four runs for St. Louis came in the second inning Saturday.
Pallante (3-2) pitched more than seven innings for only the second time. The other was also against the Nationals, when he threw eight scoreless frames July 31, 2022. Washington finally chased the right-hander Saturday when Crews went deep with one out in the eighth.
JoJo Romero made it through the rest of the eighth despite allowing a couple baserunners.
Trevor Williams (2-4) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings.
St. Louis had men on first and third with two outs in the second, and Williams couldn’t escape the inning unscathed. Pedro Pagés and Victor Scott hit consecutive RBI singles, and Lars Nootbaar drove home two more runs with a double.
Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado was hit on the left hand by a pitch in the eighth. He stayed in the game.
Key moment
After retiring the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth, Helsley allowed a single and two walks before finally getting Abrams for the final out.
Key stat
The Cardinals have won seven in a row for the first time since an eight-game run from Aug. 14-22, 2022. That streak included the last time an individual St. Louis pitcher threw a shutout — before Erick Fedde repeated the feat by going the distance against the Nationals on Friday.
Up next
Miles Mikolas (1-2) was set to start for St. Louis on Sunday against Mackenzie Gore (2-3).