Cardinals put Nationals away early

St. Louis jumps out to six-run lead, cruises to 12-4 win, evening series at 1-1

Charlie Riedel / AP

Carlos Beltran?celebrates with his Cardinals teammates in the dugout after hitting one of his two home runs, this one a solo shot in the sixth inning.

updated 8:32 p.m. ET Oct. 8, 2012

ST. LOUIS - The Nationals scored first. And then things went downhill fast.

Starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann singled in the top of the second inning, driving in shortstop Ian Desmond and giving Washington a 1-0 lead. But in the bottom of the inning, Zimmermann gave up five hits and four runs, and the rout was on.

Despite the pounding, Zimmermann lasted longer than Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia. In the second, when the pitcher's spot came up with runners on first and third, manager Mike Matheny pinch hit for Garcia. Skip Schumaker delivered an RBI groundout.

Garcia had a problem with his shoulder, Matheny said, and was sent for an MRI. He repotredly will be removed from the NLDS roster because of the injury.

The Cardinals bullpen kept the Nationals mostly in check the rest of the way, and St. Louis kept the pedal to the metal, hitting four home runs, two of them by Carlos Beltran, and winning 12-4.

Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso also went deep. Craig hit his fifth career postseason homer and scored three times.

Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche hit consecutive homers in the fifth for the Nationals, who head home for the remainder of the best-of-five series. But the NL East champions are without All-Star ace Stephen Strasburg, shut down for the rest of the season early last month to protect his surgically repaired arm.

Game 3 is Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Park. Edwin Jackson starts for Washington against longtime Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who made only three starts during the regular season because of injury.

"Today, for us, was a must-win game," Beltran said.

The Cardinals seem to live for those. They lost the division series and NL championship series openers last fall, then finished strong in the World Series after spotting Texas a 3-2 lead.

So, they're on familiar ground.

There were no lineup changes in Game 2 of the division series, just a lot more clutch hitting from players accustomed to October pressure.

Beltran homered twice in the postseason for the third time in his career, connecting in the sixth off Mike Gonzalez and eighth off Sean Burnett. Jon Jay had two hits and three RBIs, plus an outstanding catch at the center-field wall to deprive Danny Espinosa of extra bases in the sixth.

"One of the best catches I've seen. I think it's his best catch of the year," Matheny said. "He barely looked up as he was hitting the wall. Very impressive."

St. Louis was 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position during Game 1 and totaled just three hits, but the Cardinalsput that to rest in the four-run second Monday. Descalso hit his first postseason homer in the fourth, a day after getting robbed by Jayson Werth's leaping catch at the right-field wall, and Beltran's drive off Gonzalez in the sixth banged off the facade in the third deck in left, estimated at 444 feet.

"Their numbers speak for themselves," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said of the Cardinals. "They have got a fine hitting ballclub, and good pitching will slow down good hitting, but you've got to make pitches, and we didn't do that tonight."

Shadows creeped past the pitcher's mound around the third inning and didn't seem to be as big of an issue in Game 2, which started 1 1/2 hours later than the opener. Both teams had issues with the playing conditions after the opener.

Late last season, after complaints from Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman, the Cardinals said they'd try not to schedule late afternoon games that might be affected.

Nationals rookie Bryce Harper went 1 for 5 and struck out four times. He also was thrown out at third base on an ill-advised attempt to advance. He is 1 for 10 in the series with six strikeouts.

Zimmermann lasted a season-low three innings while pitching on eight days' rest. His next-shortest outing also was against the Cardinals, when he gave up a four-run, first-inning cushion and was chased after yielding eight runs in 3 2-3 innings in a 10-9 loss at home.

The numbers weren't favorable for the 25-year-old right-hander prior to first pitch, given he's 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in five career regular-season starts against the Cardinals. They were 3 for 5 with runners in scoring position against a pitcher who led the majors by holding opponents to a .160 average.

Nationals batters made contact on just four of Garcia's 24 pitches in the first, threatening with a pair of walks. Garcia went to a full count on five of his first eight hitters, and threw 51 pitches in two innings while surrendering Zimmermann's RBI single in the second.

Matheny said Garcia was pulled because of an arm issue. The left-hander missed more than two months this season with a strained shoulder.

"Jaime's arm wasn't feeling right at the time," Matheny said. "He's out right now getting an MRI, getting it looked at. Don't have the results, but we'll be able to comment on that, make a statement tomorrow."

The Cardinals had 18-game winner Lance Lynn warming up in the second and the right-hander stood on the bullpen mound during St. Louis' four-run inning. Pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker stood on the top dugout step while Pete Kozma struck out for the first out in the second and it was no decoy.

"I was ready from the get-go in case anything happened," Lynn said. "Something I was able to do at times this year, able to be down in the bullpen a little bit, and I was able to use that experience."

St. Louis opened the second with four straight hits, singles by Craig and Yadier Molina that set the table followed by an RBI double from David Freese and a run-scoring single from Descalso.

NOTES: Cardinals RHP Jake Westbrook, rehabbing from a pulled oblique, will leave the team for a few days to be with his wife, due to deliver the couple's fourth child. GM John Mozeliak said it's "not likely" that Westbrook, a 13-game winner, will be able to pitch this fall. ... Beltran has 13 career postseason homers. His last two-homer game in the postseason was Oct. 15, 2006, with the Mets against St. Louis in the NLCS. ... The Cardinals matched the franchise high for runs in a division series game. They also scored 12 in 2002 against Arizona.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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