Cardinals' Jack Flaherty wins fourth straight start with victory over Nationals

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Jack Flaherty won a fourth straight start for the first time in two years, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat Washington 8-4 on Sunday to open the second half by taking two of three from the Nationals.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer and Nolan Gorman had three hits and two RBIs for St. Louis.

Flaherty (7-5) allowed three runs, three hits and three walks in six innings with seven strikeouts. He had not won four starts in a row since an 8-0 stretch from April 7 to May 19, 2021.

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St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals Sunday, July 16, 2023, in St. Louis.  (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

"Good things happen when you get ahead," Flaherty said. "A lot of things that I’ve been trying to work on and get better throughout the year, from getting ahead and fastball command, I did a lot better job of that today."

His hot streak this year followed a slump in which he went 0-1 over five starts.

"Jack, he was on the attack from the first inning," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "His stuff looked really good. Commanded the fastball extremely well, got a lot of swing and miss on the curveball, miss on the slider and changeup."

Chris Stratton pitched a perfect seventh and Kyle Leahy relieved after a 38-minute rain delay. Leahy got one out and JoJo Romero the final five for the Cardinals, who are last in the NL Central at 40-53.

"We just got to play well every day and put a bunch of wins together," Goldschmidt said. "So, if we do that, we got a chance."

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