WASHINGTON — Adam Wainwright kicked his way to a nice break. Kolten Wong made his own luck.
Worked out quite well for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Wainwright pitched neatly into the seventh inning, helping himself by kicking the ball over to first for a key out, and St. Louis beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Tuesday night.
The NL Central-leading Cardinals rallied for their fourth straight victory. It was the Cardinals’ 18th win in April, matching a team record set in 2008.
A couple of key plays by Wainwright and Wong paid big dividends.
St. Louis was down 2-0 when Wong came up with the bases loaded and two out in the fourth. He drove in Paul DeJong with a perfectly placed bunt up the third base line , and Harrison Bader followed with a two-run single.
“I just wanted to try and get something started,” Wong said. “If I put down a good bunt, it’s one of those where these guys are too far back where they wouldn’t get me, and Paulie was taking his lead and would easily score.”
Washington pitcher Anibal Sanchez (0-4) admitted that the bunt surprised him.
“This guy, he’s the perfect guy to do that,” Sanchez said. “Really good bunt and he’s got great speed, so there’s nothing you can do with the ball on the line like that.”
Wainwright (3-2) allowed two runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked two.
Washington had a chance to get to him in the second, loading the bases with two out. Sanchez then hit a comebacker that Wainwright inadvertently kicked over to Paul Goldschmidt for the easy out , ending the inning.
The 37-year-old Wainwright grinned as he walked off the mound.
“It was kind of like ‘I’m just going to wear it and we’ll take our chances that it’ll have a good bounce,’” Wainwright said. “It might have been the best bounce I’ve ever seen off a pitcher’s leg.”
The Nationals grabbed a 2-0 lead on consecutive homers by Adam Eaton and Victor Robles in the third. But the Cardinals rallied in the fourth.
After Wainwright departed, Tyler Webb, John Gant and Andrew Miller combined for 2 2/3 innings of one-hit ball. Miller got two outs for his first save with St. Louis.
Sanchez struck out seven in five innings. He allowed five hits and walked two.
Washington manager Dave Martinez said his team came up empty on too many scoring chances. The Nationals went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.
“We get opportunities to score, we’ve got to capitalize,” Martinez said. “We’ve just got to move the ball, put the ball in play. We’ve got to start driving in those runs.”
Yankees’ Sabathia becomes 17th pitcher with 3,000 strikeouts
PHOENIX — New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia reached 3,000 career strikeouts Tuesday night, becoming the 17th major leaguer and third left-hander to achieve the milestone.
Sabathia entered the game against Arizona with 2,997 strikeouts and hit the mark by fanning three batters in the second inning.
The Yankees poured out of the dugout to congratulate Sabathia and the Chase Field crowd, full of New York fans, roared after the big left-hander struck out John Ryan Murphy on a down-and-in offspeed pitch. In 2015, Murphy was the Yankees catcher when Sabathia got his 2,500th strikeout.
Sabathia tipped his hat to the crowd and hugged his kids in the front row before heading to the on-deck circle to lead off the next inning. The 38-year-old has already announced this will be his final season.
Sabathia joined Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton as the only lefties to record 3,000 strikeouts.