Nootbaar, Contreras and Arenado homer as Cardinals beat Nationals 6-1 for 3-game sweep

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lars Nootbaar, Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado homered, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 6-1 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

The Cardinals have swept back-to-back series during an eight-game winning streak, their longest since August of 2022.

Miles Mikolas (2-2) allowed one run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings with five strikeouts and one walk. All five of his career wins against Washington have come at Nationals Park.

Nootbaar cranked his sixth homer of the season and seventh leadoff homer of his career well into the second deck in right field on the fifth pitch from MacKenzie Gore (2-4).

Contreras launched a 406-foot blast over the center field wall to begin the second, his sixth of the season. He is hitting .615 (8 for 13) against Gore with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs.

Arenado’s two-run shot in eighth was his fourth of the year.

Gore lasted 6 2/3 innings, allowing four runs, striking out seven and walking three on 101 pitches, 62 for strikes. He leads the majors with 75 strikeouts.

Nathaniel Lowe hit his seventh homer for the Nationals, who have lost five straight.

Key moment

Gore struck out Ivan Herrera to end the fourth to match Mark Langston’s franchise record for most punchouts by a left-hander in first nine starts (71 in 1989). Max Scherzer holds the franchise record with 91 strikeouts in his first nine starts in 2018.

Key stat

The Cardinals have not lost since since May 2, outscoring their last two opponents 33-7.

Up next

Cardinals: LHP Matthew Liberatore (3-3, 3.07 ERA) opens the three-game series at Philadelphia Monday against LHP Cristopher Sánchez (4-1, 2.89).

Nationals: RHP Jake Irvin (2-1, 3.94) begins their seven-game road trip at Atlanta Monday night versus RHP Grant Holmes (2-3, 4.58)

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