Nationals 1 - 4 Cardinals
Final
  for this game

Cards trim magic number, deny Zimmermann's bid for win No. 20

Sep 26, 2013 - 3:21 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Shelby Miller gave up one run over six-plus innings and the St. Louis Cardinals inched closer to their first NL Central title since 2009 with a 4-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.

Miller (15-9) allowed four hits while striking out three and walking three for the Cardinals, who went 6-0 against Washington this season. On Tuesday, Michael Wacha carried a no-hitter for 8 2/3 innings.

"We know what's at stake and what we need to do to get the job done, how many games we need to win," Miller said. "Hopefully, we can just win them all."

Matt Adams hit a solo homer and scored twice for St. Louis, which has a magic number of one to clinch the division crown. Yadier Molina knocked in two runs and Matt Carpenter added an RBI.

Bryce Harper drove in the lone run for the Nationals, who saw starter Jordan Zimmermann (19-9) give up four runs on six hits over seven innings.

"I'm not really disappointed," Zimmermann said. "Twenty wins is a lot of wins and 19 is not too far off."

The Nationals scored their only run of the game in the first inning. Denard Span led off with a walk, stole second, moved to third on Ryan Zimmerman's groundout and raced home on Harper's single to left-center field.

St. Louis tied things up in the third. Daniel Descalso doubled to right-center field, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Carpenter's groundout.

The Cardinals tacked on two more runs in the fourth. Matt Holliday was hit by a pitch and Adams doubled to left to put men on second and third with no outs. Molina followed with a two-run single up the middle, making it 3-1.

Adams homered in the sixth to make it a three-run contest.

Miller, who was dominant following the first inning, was pulled after giving up a leadoff walk to Adam LaRoche in the seventh. Seth Maness recorded the final three outs of the frame.

Kevin Siegrist and Carlos Martinez combined to pitch a scoreless eighth for the home team. Trevor Rosenthal tossed a perfect ninth for his third save of the season.

Game Notes

Miller earned his 15th victory, which is the most of any rookie pitcher in the majors this season. It's also the most by a Cardinals rookie since Dick Hughes won 16 in 1967 ... The Cardinals (94-65) are a season-high 29 games above .500 ... St. Louis ends the regular season with a three-game weekend series against the Cubs, while the Nationals finish the year with a three-game set against Arizona.






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