ST. LOUIS _ The Washington Nationals replaced regular first baseman Ryan Zimmerman with Howie Kendrick, their outstanding utility man Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. After all, Kendrick was 6 for 8 in his career against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas.
Make that 8 for 11 now.
Kendrick tripled and scored in the second. He hit a solo homer, his 16th home run of the season, in the fourth. After Mikolas left, Kendrick singled off reliever John Gant to open a two-run eighth inning and the beleaguered Nationals bullpen was spotless as Washington beat the Cardinals, 6-2, handing them their third loss in five games on their next-to-last-homestand of the season, which ends Wednesday afternoon.
Both Cardinals runs were unearned, the result of Washington errors. Mikolas fell to 9-14 as he allowed three runs in six innings, but the Cardinals' bullpen tripped up for the second time in three days as Gant, Ryan Helsley and Genesis Cabrera each allowed a run over the final two innings, stretching out what was a 3-2 Washington lead.
The Milwaukee Brewers won to cut the Cardinals' lead over them to two games in the National League Central Division race while the Chicago Cubs lost to the Cincinnati Reds and also remain two games behind.
