The Washington Nationals have defeated the St. Louis Cardinals for the third time in spring training.
The Washington Nationals have now picked up their fourth consecutive win, marking the longest win streak in spring training and moving to 10-4-3 overall.
The Nationals down the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1, in an afternoon matchup on Wednesday with a late-inning surge fueling the win.
Cade Cavalli dazzled in his third start this spring, tossing a pair of strikeouts while giving up one walk across three innings. He now has nine strikeouts in nine innings without an earned run allowed this spring, adding credence to him being tabbed as the Nationals' Opening Day starter against the Chicago Cubs.
Brad Lord also tossed three innings where he allowed three hits and one earned run while also posting a strikeout. Gus Varland struck out all three batters he faced in his lone inning in Wednesday's win.
Washington would be the first on the scoreboard after Nasim Nunez opened the bottom of the first inning with a walk before stealing second, then getting to third after James Wood grounded out to first base.
With Brad Lord on the mound, St. Louis would answer in the top of the six inning after Lord gave up a walk with two outs, leading to consecutive singles to tie the game at one before a grounder into a fielder's choice ended the inning. Washington would threaten in the bottom of the inning after Lile opened the frame with a single to right field, but he and Jose Tena would be stranded on the corners after a fly ball from Joey Wiemer ended the inning.
But Washington would answer back in the bottom of the eighth after Christian Franklin reached first on an infield single in the second at bat of the inning, then stealing second then third base to put the Nationals in position for the late win. Abimelec Ortiz would comfortably capitalize after doubling into right field, sending Franklin home, before Trey Lipscomb singled to center field two at bats later to bring Ortiz home, giving the Nationals a 3-1 advantage.
Orlando Ribalta capped off the day by allowing two hits before a fly out left runs on the corners.
Washington will return to action to face the Houston Astros again with opening pitch set for 6:05 PM. This will mark the fifth meeting against Houston in spring training with Washington winning two while tying in the other two. Thursday's game will also be available for streaming on MLB.TV.