WASHINGTON _ What once seemed like a direct and textbook trot to another series victory became, instead, a third test of the Cardinals' bullpen in as many days.
Two days after closer Bud Norris struggled and 24 hours after Jordan Hicks was thrust into an unexpected save chance, Carlos Martinez handled the final two innings of the Cardinals' series finale against Washington at Nationals Park. But not without some drama.
On the way to a 7-6 victory and the series win, Martinez saw the tying run reach scoring positing due to a fielding error in the ninth. He struck out Ryan Zimmerman to open a way out for the Cardinals. A fly ball for the second out and the tying run remained at second while Martinez hunted his first save of the season, his first since a bullpen turn in 2014.
Martinez struck out Michael Taylor to end the game.
The game left the Cardinals with a lingering concern that had nothing to do with the tumultuous bullpen. In the eighth inning, Yadier Molina broke from second in what appeared to be an attempt to straight steal second base. There wasn't any evidence of a hit-and-run or any other gizmo. Molina slid into second and was tagged out.
He grabbed at his left hamstring, as it happened.
Molina was removed from the game with tightness in his left hamstring, a team official said. The extent of the injury was not immediately clear, and it's possible it will take re-evaluation Thursday to determine the catcher's availability for this weekend's series in Detroit.
The Cardinals stormed to a 5-0 lead before the end of the second inning. On the seventh pitch of the game thrown by Tanner Roark, Matt Adams clobbered a three-run homer. In the second inning, Matt Carpenter and Jose Martinez had RBI base hits to push that lead to five runs. By the time Roark was able to get a sixth out, Martinez already had two hits, an RBI, and a run.
Adams added a second homer in the fifth inning.
Both of his home runs came on the first pitch of an at-bat.
That pushed the Cardinals' lead to 6-0, and then the Nationals started slicing away, slicing away, slicing away.
Miles Mikolas pitched four scoreless innings, but he had to maneuver around five hits during that stretch. He limited his trouble by not allowing any walks, but when the game got into the seventh inning the hits started to mount. Mikolas allowed 12 hits through his 6 2/3 innings, and his quality start would spoil after he left and inherited runners scored.
He allowed four total, two after he was in the dugout.
