Nationals cruise past sloppy Cardinals 7-0
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}JUPITER, Fla. (AP) Ryan Zimmerman belted his second home run of the spring and the Cardinals committed five errors as the Washington Nationals beat St. Louis 7-0 on Saturday.
Kolten Wong had one of those errors and exited the game after bruising his knee diving for the ball, all in a three-run Washington fourth.
''It just felt tight so I started kind of stretching it out,'' Wong said. ''As I was walking through the infield it just kept getting worse.''
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}St. Louis manager Mike Matheny characterized Wong as being day to day and Wong said he might return to the lineup as early as Sunday.
Wong landed directly on his left knee cap while diving after a bouncer hit by Wilson Ramos. The ball scooted off Wong's glove and into right field.
After Chris Heisey's double off the left field wall moved Ramos to third, Danny Espinosa's grounder rolled through Wong's legs, allowing both Ramos and Heisey to score. Wong said the injury did not affect his ability to field the ball.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Zimmerman's blast came earlier in that inning when he drove a 3-2 Mike Leake offering over the left field wall.
St. Louis' defensive struggles continued in the sixth, when back-to-back errors by Ruben Tejada and Matt Carpenter led to three unearned Washington runs.
Washington struck for a run in the top of the first when Michael A. Taylor's ground rule double to left advanced Matt den Dekker to third. Den Dekker scored one batter later when Zimmerman grounded out behind second base.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tanner Roark pitched with St. Louis runners on base much of the afternoon but kept them from scoring during his five innings, allowing six hits while striking out four.
''You've got to make pitches,'' Roark said. ''They are a good hitting ball club and we had some great defense behind me for sure.''
Despite striking out seven, Leake took his first loss of the spring after allowing four runs on seven hits in five innings.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Stephen Drew struck out three times in the first four innings, the beginning of a 0-for-4 afternoon. He'd struck out only three times during his previous 26 spring at-bats.
STARTING TIME
Cardinals: All four of the runs charged to Leake were earned, but the outing wouldn't have looked so bad if the Cardinals had made some plays behind him.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}''Just an ugly, ugly day,'' Matheny said. ''When we've got a guy we're trying to encourage to get the ball on the ground, when he gets the ball on the ground, we've got to make plays behind him.''
Nationals: Friday's rainout prompted Washington to hold over scheduled starter Roark for Saturday's game. Joe Ross, Saturday's originally scheduled starter, threw in a minor league game in Viera.
TRAINER'S ROOM
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cardinals: St. Louis had hoped reliever Jordan Walden would return to game action on Saturday, but the shoulder and back soreness he's been fighting forced him to sit out another day. Matheny said Walden is day to day.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: St. Louis will be the visiting team when it faces Roger Dean Stadium co-tenant Miami on Sunday, with Jaime Garcia drawing the start against Marlins ace Jose Fernandez.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nationals: Washington plays its final split squad games of the spring on Sunday. Gio Gonzalez will get the start at home against Atlanta's Jhoulys Chacin. Yusmeiro Petit gets the ball for the Nationals on the road against the Mets, who will start Steven Matz.