Cards bash five homers, hold off Nationals

[September 05, 2018]    Yadier Molina hit a grand slam in the ninth inning, Marcell Ozuna homered twice, and the St. Louis Cardinals finished with five home runs in an 11-8 win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night at Nationals Park.

Cardinals left fielder Marcell Ozuna (23) hits a solo home run against the Washington Nationals during the sixth inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Molina's grand slam locked up the victory, as the Cardinals were holding onto a 7-5 lead before he belted his shot off of Sammy Solis.

Ozuna went deep for a solo shot in the sixth inning to snap a 4-4 tie and put the Cardinals in front to stay. Paul DeJong immediately followed with a homer, and one batter later, Patrick Wisdom homered.

St. Louis finished with 10 hits -- five singles and the five home runs.

The teams have split the first two games of this series. Tyron Ross (8-9), the brother of Washington's Joe Ross, earned the victory in relief in a game that lasted 4 hours, 10 minutes.

Cardinals starter John Gant went 4 1/3 innings and gave up three runs (all unearned) on just two hits. He walked five while striking out two.

Starter Erick Fedde came off the disabled list and went five innings for the Nationals, giving up four runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Austen Williams (0-1) took the loss in just his second major league game, allowing all three sixth-inning homers while retiring just two batters.

St. Louis took the lead first with a four-run second inning. Ozuna made it 1-0 with a solo homer, and Matt Carpenter hit a two-run single with the bases loaded -- with the Cardinals coming up with a third run on the play thanks to right fielder Adam Eaton's error.

The Nationals got all four runs back in the fifth. They loaded the bases with two outs, and Tyler Webb walked Trea Turner before Bryce Harper followed with a two-run, ground-rule double.

Two batters later, Webb gave up his second bases-loaded walk, this one to Juan Soto, and it tied the game at 4-4. The Cardinals then came up with their three-homer sixth before Wilmer Difo golfed a homer for the Nationals in the bottom of the inning to make it 7-5.

After the grand slam, the Nationals answered with three in the bottom of the ninth, two coming on a Ryan Zimmerman double that made it 11-8, before Jordan Hicks came on for the last out to record his sixth save.

--Field Level Media

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