The Cardinals’ season is over after getting swept by the Nationals in the National League Championship Series. Washington scored seven times in the first inning and held on for a 7-4 win in Game Four of the NLCS in D.C. Dakota Hudson was tagged with the loss after giving up seven runs, including three unearned, in less than an inning of work. Yadier Molina homered and José MartÃnez doubled in two runs for St. Louis.
The Cardinals had the tying run at the plate in Matt Carpenter who came in for Harrison Bader with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, but Carpenter grounded out to the second baseman. The Cardinals then went down 1-2-3 in the ninth.
Martinez who was put in the starting lineup despite his defensive liabilities went 5-for-10 with three RBIs in the series. He was responsible for half the runs scored by the Cardinals. Paul DeJong his .250 in the series going 3-for-12 at the plate. No other hitter had a batting average over .200.
Dexter Fowler finished 0-for-11 with six strikeouts. Carpenter went 0-for-8 with four strikeouts and rookie Tommy Edman who provided a spark halfway through the season, went 0-for-14 with five strikeouts. He provided the only other RBI for the team outside Martinez and Molina.
The Cardinals 3 and 4 hitters, Paul Goldschmidt and Marcell Ozuna, who both hit .429 against the Braves, combined to go 4-for-32 with 17 strikeouts. Goldschmidt looked completely lost at the plate. At one point over Games 3 and 4, he struck out seven times in a row.
St. Louis used all 27 outs in the four-game series, totaling 108 outs. The Cardinals were retired 44.% of the time without putting the ball in play.
