Nolan Gorman had a homer, two runs and two RBIs as the St. Louis Cardinals rolled past the visiting Washington Nationals on 8-4 Sunday.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who won two of three games for their second straight series win.

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty (7-5) allowed three runs on three hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out seven.

Starter Josiah Gray (6-8) allowed four runs on 10 hits in five innings for the Nationals, who got two RBIs each from Dominic Smith and Keibert Ruiz.

Ruiz’s second-inning homer put Washington up 1-0.

The Cardinals threatened in the bottom of the second inning when Alec Burleson hit a single and Paul DeJong sent him to third with a one-out single. But Gray got the next two hitters to strand the runners.

They threatened again in the third inning when Goldschmidt hit a single and Lars Nootbaar walked. Both advanced on a flyout, but once again Gray escaped by retiring the next two batters.

The Cardinals rallied for a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning. Gorman, DeJong, Andrew Knizner and Brendan Donovan hit singles to produce two runs, and one-out later, Nootbaar hit an RBI single.

Gorman’s homer in the fifth inning expanded the Cardinals’ lead to 4-1.

The Nationals cut their deficit to 4-3 in the sixth inning. CJ Abrams hit a one-out triple, Lane Thomas walked, and Smith hit a two-out, two-run double. Ruiz walked as Smith advanced on a wild pitch, but Flaherty dodged further trouble.

The Cardinals pushed their lead to 8-3 in the bottom of the inning.

Donovan walked and Goldschmidt hit his two-run homer. Nootbaar walked, Jordan Walker hit a one-out double, Burleson hit a run-scoring chopper, and Gorman hit an RBI infield single.

After a 38-minute rain delay, Abrams led off the eighth inning with a double, then Thomas and Smith walked before Ruiz hit a run-scoring groundout.

–Field Level Media