Michael Morse hit a grand slam for Washington, but the Cardinals rallied to tie with four runs after the seventh inning, before losing in ten innings to the Nationals 6-4. St. Louis’ magic number for clinching the second NL wild-card spot remained at three, with a two-game lead over the Dodgers and four games to go.
Rookie Pete Kozma had three hits and two RBIs for St. Louis. He scored on Jon Jay’s sacrifice fly off Drew Storen (3-1) in the ninth to tie it.
In the tenth, the Nationals got a pair of walks and a passed ball to set up the go-ahead hit, a double off the wall in left-center by Kurt Suzuki off Fernando Salas.