Jose Tena’s two-run double keyed a four-run 11th inning and the Washington Nationals beat the Cardinals 8-5 on Saturday night in St. Louis.
Keibert Ruiz singled leading off the 11th against Gordon Graceffo (8-2), moving designated runner Yohandy Morales to third. Nasim Nunez walked to load the bases and Jacob Young reached on a catcher’s interference call against Leo Bernal, plating the go-ahead run.
Daylen Lile struck out, but Tena smacked a double to left center and the lead expanded to 7-4. CJ Abrams was walked intentionally and Dylan Crews hit a sacrifice fly to right that would have been more damaging if not for a diving catch by Jordan Walker.
JJ Wetherholt singled home a run leading off the bottom half against Riley Cornelio. Alec Burleson singled and Jose Fermin walked to load the bases.
But Ivan Herrera and Jordan Walker struck out, and Will Dion came on, getting Bernal to fly out for his first major league save.
Jorbit Vivas had four hits and Lile homered for Washington (73-82), which has won six of seven.
Cornelio (3-2) pitched 1 2/3 innings for the win.
At the top of the order, Fermin and Herrera had three hits each for St. Louis (75-80), which has lost four straight.
Vivas singled home a run in the top of the tenth and Masyn Winn matched him in the bottom half.
St. Louis tied it in the ninth. Nathan Church led off with a double to left and scored on Pedro Pages’ single.
Trailing 3-0, the Cardinals rallied in the seventh. Winn reached on a throwing error by third baseman Vivas and went to second on a ground out. Pages hit a dribbler toward third and pitcher Richard Lovelady threw wildly to first. Winn scored and Pages went to second. One out later Fermin singled, scoring Pages to make it 3-2.
James Wood opened the game with a single and Lile followed with a two-run homer.
The Nationals added a run in the sixth. Vivas singled with one out and Andres Chaparro followed with an infield hit. After Ruiz grounded into a fielder’s choice, Nunez singled, scoring Vivas to make it 3-0.
Washington’s Andrew Alvarez tossed six shutout innings. He gave up five hits and tied his season high with eight strikeouts.
Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy gave up two runs on five hits over four innings.
