Arenado leads Cardinals to 4-2 comeback win over Nationals

Nolan Arenado smacked a go-ahead RBI single in a fifth-inning rally to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 come-from-behind win over the Washington Nationals.

It took some time for the St. Louis offense to heat up Monday, but the rally sparked a nine-hit day and three of the Cardinals’ four runs. Arenado, Dylan Carlson and Nolan Gorman all delivered key hits.

The Nationals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Ryan Zimmerman connected for a two-run home run off Cardinals starting pitcher John Gant.

Making his second spring start, Gant settled in after the home run. He held the Nationals scoreless for the rest of his outing, one in which he was stretched out to 79 pitches. Gant tossed 4 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs, four hits and two walks. He also struck out three.

Nationals ace Max Scherzer shut down the Cardinals for the second time in less than a week, firing four scoreless innings and striking out seven. Scherzer allowed only two hits over his past two starts against St. Louis. Arenado and Tyler O’Neill had the lone hits Monday against Scherzer.

After Scherzer departed, the St. Louis offense came alive in the fifth inning against Washington’s Austin Voth. Yadier Molina led off the inning with a walk. Carlson tripled in the following at-bat, cutting the Cardinals’ deficit in half.

Cardinals prospect Nolan Gorman added to the rally with a pinch-hit double. He would later score the game-winning run on Arenado’s two-out single. Voth left the inning after the go-ahead single but returned to the mound in the sixth inning under MLB’s modified spring rules.

Edmundo Sosa doubled in the eighth inning, then scored the game’s final run on a wild pitch. Cardinals pitcher Alex Reyes tossed a clean ninth inning to pick up his first save this spring.

The Cardinals improved to 5-5-3 in Grapefruit League action with the win as spring training nears the halfway point. After an off-day Tuesday, the Cardinals head to West Palm Beach for a Wednesday afternoon tilt with the Houston Astros.