WASHINGTON, D.C. — If nothing else, Nationals slugger Bryce Harper spent some quality time with Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter on Monday night.
Harper tied a career high with four hits, all singles, and reached base in all six plate appearances to help Washington to a 14-6 rout of St. Louis.
“I got to know Carpenter a little bit more than I have, so that was good,” Harper deadpanned. “He’s a great guy.”
Stephen Drew, Adam Eaton and Ryan Zimmerman each had three of Washington’s 19 hits. Drew drove in four runs and Eaton knocked in three as the Nationals overcame four errors. They broke open the game in a seven-run eighth inning.
“It was kind of an ugly game,” Washington manager Dusty Baker said. “But when you score, it will kill most of the ills.”
Tanner Roark (2-0) allowed five runs — three earned — over five innings. The right-hander worked around three errors committed behind him.
“Nobody’s perfect,” Roark said. “Errors are going to happen. You just do your best to try to pick up the guy that made the error.”
Stephen Piscotty returned to St. Louis’ lineup after missing two games with a sore left knee and knocked in two runs.
Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (0-2) gave up six runs, five earned, and 11 hits over four-plus innings.
“Sometimes you get your tail whooped and you’ve got to give some credit to the other side,” Wainwright said. “They hit some good pitches. They hit some not-so-good pitches.”
Matt Wieters followed with a tying single off Brett Cecil. Two batters later, Eaton delivered a go-ahead sacrifice fly.
Washington’s last two runs came in the eighth on Harper’s two-out single that scorched past second baseman Kolten Wong and was not ruled an error because of a bad hop.
