WASHINGTON — The visiting Washington Nationals enjoyed a 3-2 win over the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals Sunday in their Major League Baseball playoff debut for a 1-0 lead in their National League Division Series. Rookie Tyler Moore delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single in the eighth inning to turn a 2-1 deficit into the game-winning margin of victory for the Nationals, whose 98 wins this season led the major leagues and made them top seed in the playoffs. “He threw me some pretty tough pitches and I managed to foul them off,” Moore said about his at-bat against lefty reliever Rzepczynski. “So I just thought I'll stick (the bat) out there, put the barrel on one and it flared into right field.” The Cardinals, who beat the Atlanta Braves Friday in a one-game wildcard showdown to advance to the division series, squandered a bases-loaded no-out opportunity in the bottom of the seventh inning by failing to score. That turnaround of fortune was the key to a game in which the Nationals scored one run in the second and the Cardinals answered with two runs without benefit of a hit in their half of that inning for all the runs they would muster in the game. In the seventh, Jon Jay led off by reaching first base on an error by first baseman Adam LaRoche, Carlos Beltran singled to center and reliever Craig Stammen hit Matt Holliday with a pitch to load the bases. Nationals' manager Davey Johnson summoned Ryan Mattheus to take the mound. “I said to him we need a couple of ground balls to get out of this ininng and he did it,” Johnson said. Mattheus wasted no time obeying his manager's orders, using two pitches to register three outs. Clean-up hitter Allen Craig, who had led the National League in batting with runners in scoring position, bounced to short on the first pitch and Ian Desmond fired home to get the lead runner. On his next pitch, Yadier Molina grounded to third base where Ryan Zimmerman started a double play that ended the threat. In the eighth, with St. Louis reliever Mitchell Boggs on the mound, Michael Morse reached on an error by shortstop Pete Kozma to begin the game-winning rally Desmond, who had three hits in the game, followed with a single to right to put men on first and third. A sacrifice bunt gave Washington runners on second and third and after Kurt Suzuki struck out, left-hander Rzepczynski was brought in.
That set the stage for rookie Moore. The best-of-five series resumes Monday in St. Louis. Arroyo lifts Reds
Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo dominated from the mound to shut out the San Francisco Giants 9-0 Sunday, as the Reds seized control of their National League Division Series with another road victory. Arroyo allowed just one hit over seven innings to guide the Reds to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, which moves to Cincinnati for Game Three Tuesday. “I haven't been able to take the ball and really lock down a game like this in the playoffs in my whole career,” Arroyo told reporters. “Hopefully it's just the beginning of things to come for this ball club.” The Reds won Game One 5-2 Saturday despite losing ace Johnny Cueto in the first inning to back spasms but had no such concerns about Arroyo, who was rock solid in earning his first playoff win. Ryan Hanigan's two-run single put Cincinnati ahead 4-0 in the fourth inning and the visitors delivered the knockout blow in the eighth by tacking on five more runs. Joey Votto finished with three hits while Brandon Phillips added a pair of hits and is now 5-for-10 with a homer and four RBIs for the series. San Francisco starter Madison Bumgarner lasted 4 1/3 innings in the deflating loss. The Giants recorded two hits in the game and saw their first 14 batters retired by Arroyo. — Agencies
