Hot outfielders lead Nationals, Cardinals into decisive game

St. Louis outfielder Jordan Walker will look to continue his hot streak when the Cardinals and Washington Nationals meet in the rubber game of their three-game series Wednesday afternoon in the nation's capital.

Walker homered for the second straight night and third time in four games Tuesday to help the Cardinals rally for a 7-6, 10-inning win.

He has four home runs in 11 games this season after it took him 73 games to reach that mark a season ago. The 23-year-old has driven in 11 runs, including eight in his past four games, and is batting .300 overall.

Washington has its own outfielder on a hot streak. James Wood had two hits and homered in his third straight game -- a career first -- for the Nationals on Tuesday. He also scored three runs, bringing his season total to 11.

St. Louis' Michael McGreevy (0-1, 2.53 ERA) will oppose fellow right-hander Miles Mikolas (0-2, 14.46) in the series finale.

Mikolas, signed by Washington as a free agent in the offseason, played seven of the past eight seasons with the Cardinals, going 68-69 with a 4.16 ERA. He missed 2020 due to injury.

He has had a rough beginning to 2026. After allowing six runs (four earned) in his first outing, a 10-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on March 28, he was shellacked for 11 runs on 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings by the Los Angeles Dodgers in Washington's home opener last Friday. The Dodgers hit four home runs off of him in their 13-6 victory.

"Knowing Miles, the competitor he is, he was frustrated by it," Nationals manager Blake Butera said of Mikolas' start against the Dodgers. "But he'll be fine. He'll flush it, he'll make his adjustments and we'll fix this."

Before joining the Cardinals, Mikolas pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief against them while with the San Diego Padres in 2012.

McGreevy tossed six shutout innings in a no-decision against the Tampa Rays in his first start on March 28, a 6-5 win in 10 innings. Last Friday, he took a 4-0 loss against the Detroit Tigers, giving up three runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, McGreevy worked on his hip movement leading up to that start in an effort to regain some lost velocity compared to 2025.

McGreevy never has faced the Nationals.

On Tuesday, Nathan Church hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the eighth inning for the Cardinals as they improved to 3-0 in extra inning games. Run-scoring doubles by Thomas Saggese and JJ Wetherholt in the 10th inning led to the win.

"They're not gonna give in," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of his team. "They're going to play hard regardless of score, situation. I'm proud of these dudes for continuing to do that."

Church snapped an 0-for-22 skid with his crucial home run.

"Just something over the plate and put a good swing on it," he said. "That's really all I was trying to do -- simplify."

Washington's bullpen squandered a lead for the third straight game, though the Nationals came back to win on Monday. Washington relievers allowed five runs and six walks in 5 1/3 innings Tuesday.

"We want to win every night, and our offense is doing a tremendous job of putting up runs every single night," Butera said. "I know our pitching is going to come along. They are going to get better, I know that. So, if our offense keeps doing what it's doing and we get the pitching squared away, we are going to be in a good spot."

-Field Level Media