NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cardinals jump on Strasburg early, finish sweep

WASHINGTON - The St. Louis Cardinals’ very first batter, Matt Carpenter, got it started against Stephen Strasburg by stretching a single into a double when Bryce Harper’s throw to second base was bobbled and fell to the dirt.

One out later, Matt Holliday singled. Carlos Beltran walked. Yadier Molina delivered a two-run single. Then a throwing error on Daniel Descalso’s grounder padded the score.

Just like that, 23 pitches in, the Cardinals built a three-run lead against the Washington Nationals. And that, pretty much, was enough. On the strength of that half-inning, the Cardinals beat the Nationals 4-2 on Wednesday to complete a sweep and give Washington’s All-Star ace the only four-start losing streak of his young career.

“It was good to get on Strasburg early,” Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma said. “That’s what we were trying to do from the get-go.”

Jaime Garcia (2-1) allowed a run on Harper’s sixth-inning ground out but otherwise added to the offensive struggles of the Nationals, who have lost six consecutive home games and nine of their past 12 overall to fall to 10-11.

With his team averaging 2.9 runs over its past 12 games, Washington Manager Davey Johnson said he would insert bench player Steve Lombardozzi in the lineup today against Cincinnati and make other changes to the batting order.

“We’re just not doing the things we’re capable of doing right now,” Johnson said. “It’ll change, but I’m going to have to jumble things up a little bit, try to light a fire.” REDS 1, CUBS 0 Mat Latos (1-0) pitched four-hit ball into the eighth inning, Todd Frazier hit a long home run and host Cincinnati beat Chicago.

DIAMONDBACKS 3, GIANTS 2 Pinch-hitter Will Nieves delivered a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to lift visiting Arizona to a victory over San Francisco. Gerardo Parra and A.J. Pollack also drove in a run for the Diamondbacks.

ROCKIES 6, BRAVES 5 Wilin Rosario scored from second on Yorvit Torrealba’s single to left and host Colorado rallied to beat Atlanta in 12 innings. Michael Cuddyer and Josh Rutledge homered for the Rockies.

PIRATES 5, PHILLIES 3 Pinch hitter Brandon Inge hit a tie breaking RBI single in the eighth inning and visiting Pittsburgh rallied to beat Philadelphia. Roy Halladay pitched six innings of one-hit ball and Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hit upper-deck home runs off Wandy Rodriguez. METS 7, DODGERS 3 Jordany Valdespin hit a grand slam in the 10th inning and host New York rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers to save early sensation Matt Harvey from his first loss of the season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE BLUE JAYS 6, ORIOLES 5 Jim Johnson walked Maicer Izturis with the bases loaded in the 11th inning to force in the tie breaking run, and visiting Toronto beat Baltimore. The Blue Jays hit four home runs, but the decisive run came without Izturis taking a swing. With two outs in the 11th, J.P. Arencibia and Munenori Kawaski singled before Johnson (1-2) hit Brett Lawrie with a pitch and issued a four-pitch walk to Izturis, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup.

RED SOX 6, ATHLETICS 5 Stephen Drew hit a two-run triple, David Ortiz had two hits and drove in a run and host Boston beat Oakland. Chris Young had two home runs for the Athletics.

WHITE SOX 3, INDIANS 2 Alex Rios hit a two-run home run and host Chicago beat Cleveland to stop a four-game losing streak. Jeff Keppinger had two hits and drove in a run for the White Sox.

ASTROS 10, MARINERS 3 Chris Carter, Ronny Cedeno and Brandon Laird homered, Lucas Harrell (2-2) pitched seven innings, and host Houston beat Seattle.

RAYS 3, YANKEES 0 Alex Cobb scattered three hits over 8 1/3 innings, Ben Zobrist drove in two runs and host Tampa Bay beat New York.

TIGERS 7, ROYALS 5 Jose Valverde returned to Detroit with a save and Victor Martinez drove in a pair of runs to help the Tigers beat visiting Kansas City.

Wednesday’s games

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cincinnati 1, Chicago Cubs 0 St. Louis 4, Washington 2 Colorado 6, Atlanta 5 (12) Arizona 3, San Francisco 2 (10) Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 3 NY Mets 7, LA Dodgers 3 (10) Milwaukee at San Diego, (n)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Toronto 6, Baltimore 5 (11) Chicago White Sox 3, Cleveland 2 Houston 10, Seattle 3 Boston 6, Oakland 5 Detroit 7, Kansas City 5 Tampa Bay 3, NY Yankees 0 Texas at LA Angels, (n)

Sports, Pages 22 on 04/25/2013

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