Washington Nationals are defeated by the Cardinals, 8-3

Washington D.C. — The Washington Nationals lost at home to the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-3.

The Nationals now have a record of 42-48 going into the last game in the series tomorrow afternoon against the Cardinals. The Nationals have a 20-23 record at home and are 3-4 already during July. The Nationals are now 26-29 against N.L. teams and 3-6 against N.L. Central teams.

The Nationals have played 18 straight games - starting on June 28 at Tampa Bay and will play without a day off before the All-Star break.

LHP DJ Herz got the start for the Nationals today, searching for his second win of the season. However, he struggled with efficiency today, going only 4.1 innings, giving up five runs on five hits, and facing 20 batters and only struck out four. Herz threw 102 pitches, 65 of them being strikes.

RHP Derek Law struggled today as he only went one inning but gave up two runs on three hits, and RHP Dylan Floro gave up one run of his own in the 0.1 inning of work.

The Nationals scored three on 11 hits, left five base runners, and went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position this afternoon.

There were some highlights from the Nationals offense with RBIs from Jesse Winker (41), Juan Yepez (1), Riley Adams (1-3), CJ Abrams went 2-for-4, and James Wood went 1-2 with a run scored. Wood has now gotten a hit in all of his major league appearances.

Today, Juan Yepez got his first RBI with the Nationals since being called up from Triple-A Rochester in the bottom of the second, bringing the Nationals within one run of the Cardinals, which didn’t last long.

The Cardinals scored two in the second, one in the fourth, three in the fifth, and two in the seventh.

In another news, right before today’s game, it was announced that Washington Nationals prospect Brady House was promoted to Triple-A Rochester from the Harrisburg Senators.

Tomorrow's pitching matchup

Tomorrow, the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals will finish their four-game series against the Cardinals. The Nationals will send LHP Mitchell Parker (5-4, 3.61) to the mound, and the Nationals will face RHP Miles Mikolas (6-7, 5.19).

Mitchell Parker has recorded 22 strikeouts against just three walks in his last four starts (23.0 IP).

Mikolas will make his eighth career start (9th app.) against the Nationals and his first this season. Mikolas made one career relief appearance as a member of the Padres in 2012. Threw a 2023 season-high 107 pitches on 6/21/23 at Nationals Park in a 3-0 loss.

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