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 But manager Dusty Baker's successful challenge put Washington back
in business, and as things turned out, it led to the big inning they
needed to start a 10-game road trip off with a win.
Scoring four runs in the fourth to take the lead for good,
Washington won for just the eighth time in 34 games in St. Louis
since moving from Montreal before the 2005 season, edging the
Cardinals 5-4 Friday night at sold-out Busch Stadium.
"Replay definitely helped us tonight big-time," Baker said.
After singling to lead off the fourth, Anthony Rendon attempted to
swipe second with one out as Ryan Zimmerman took a 2-1 pitch
outside. Catcher Eric Fryer's throw appeared to be late, but second
baseman Jedd Gyorko slapped a quick tag on Rendon and Doug Eddings
called him out.
However, Baker asked for a replay and it revealed what Eddings
didn't see from his angle -- that Rendon got his hand to the bag
just ahead of the tag.
"I was hoping it wouldn't be conclusive," Fryer said of the replay,
"but it was. It was pretty easy to tell on the replay that he was
safe."
 With the call reversed, the Nationals (15-7) pressed their attack.
Zimmerman walked, Daniel Murphy singled to right to score Rendon and
Jayson Werth's sacrifice fly to right brought Zimmerman home for a
3-2 advantage.
Danny Espinosa then pounced on a 1-2 mistake by Leake, attacking a
fastball that swayed toward the plate's middle and driving it into
the St. Louis bullpen behind the right-center-field wall for his
first homer of the year.
Fryer said Leake tried to repeat a pitch that beat Espinosa for the
first two strikes of the at-bat.
"He tried to catch the outside corner and it just caught too much of
the plate," Fryer said. "Espinosa had a really good at-bat."
It proved to be the killing blow for Leake (0-3), who was charged
with five hits and five runs in seven innings with a walk and two
strikeouts. Signed for five years and $80 million as a free agent in
December, Leake has permitted at least four runs in all five starts.
Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg (4-0) shrugged off a shaky first inning
in which he was touched for an RBI double by Matt Holliday and a
run-scoring single by Matt Adams on consecutive pitches.
Strasburg kicked it into high gear in his third pass through the
order, fanning seven of eight hitters. After whiffing Matt Carpenter
to strand two men in the fourth, Strasburg struck out the side in
the fifth with a Holliday single mixed in, then whiffed the side in
the sixth.
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"He's no longer a kid," Baker said of Strasburg. "Now he's a
pitcher. He knows what to do, he doesn't need anyone to guide him
through the game. He kept his composure and we got him a lead, and
he got locked in."
Strasburg scattered eight hits in his seven innings, walking one and
fanning nine for his first win in five career starts against the
Cardinals (12-11).
Reliever Blake Treinen coughed up a two-run homer to Matt Adams in
the eighth to draw St. Louis within a run. Closer Jonathan Papelbon
hinted at a tightrope ninth when he walked pinch-hitter Kolten Wong
to start it, but erased it with a 4-6-3 double play off pinch-hitter
Brandon Moss' bat and retired Carpenter on a grounder for his eighth
save in nine chances.
Michael Taylor ended Washington's 22-inning scoreless streak with a
leadoff homer on the game's third pitch. It was an omen of things to
come for the Nationals, who used the replay review to craft the big
inning that gave Strasburg the cushion he needed.
"I was kind of searching for things a bit early, but the guys gave
me a chance and scored some runs," he said.
NOTES: St. Louis C Yadier Molina got the night off after starting in
21 of the team's first 22 games, with Eric Fryer picking up his
second start. ... One big reason for Washington's fast start? Its
defense has committed an MLB-low seven errors and ranks third in
defensive efficiency, converting 74 percent of batted balls into
outs. They were 21st last year at 70 percent. ... Cardinals SS
Aledmys Diaz needs one more hit to join Albert Pujols as the
franchise's only rookies to bang out 30 hits in April.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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