Willson Contreras hit his second home run of the series as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 8-3 on Sunday.
Contreras hit a 395-foot home run off Nationals reliever Derek Law in the seventh inning. He also singled, scored twice, and had three RBIs. It was his ninth home run of the season and his third in the past five days. Contreras mentioned he recently switched from a 33.75-inch to a 34-inch bat.
“He got me a little out front,” Contreras said. “But using a 34-inch bat helped me stay through the zone longer, allowing me to make contact with that curveball. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a curveball at all.”
Nolan Gorman contributed with a single, double, and two RBIs. Gorman had a good weekend in D.C., going 7-for-11 after struggling with a .087 batting average (6-for-69) from June 12 to July 4. He has been on base in 46 of his last 50 games.
Nolan Arenado also had a strong series against the Nationals, including a two-run single in the fifth inning. He collected seven hits in the series.
“There was a lot of fight in them yesterday,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said, reflecting on the team’s rebound after a 14-6 loss on Saturday. “Today, we had some really good at-bats. We’d been missing that big hit with two outs to score a couple of runs, and Arenado delivered with that hit to score two.
Gorman is starting to feel more comfortable, you can see him making solid contact, which is great. And Contreras with the home run, it was a really good day.”
The Cardinals have won five of their last seven games and boast the best record in the National League since May 12, going 32-18 (.640).
