Tommy Edman was confused.
The St. Louis infielder thought he had made the final out.
Instead, his long drive to left field nicked off the glove of outfielder Alex Call for a two-run, two-out double to cap St. Louis’ five-run ninth inning in a 6-5 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.
St. Louis moved 9 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee for the NL Central lead, winning for the 20th time in its last 23 home games. The Cardinals are a season-high 25 games over .500 at 81-56.
Edman doubled to left off reliever Kyle Finnegan (5-3) to cap the rally.
Edman had his second walk-off hit of the season. He hit a late two-run homer to beat Cincinnati 5-4 on June 11. He extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
The Cardinals became the first team this season to win a game after trailing by four or more runs entering the ninth inning.
Paul Goldschmidt hit his 35th homer, a solo homer off Cory Abbott leading off the fourth. Goldschmidt leads the NL with 108 RBIs. He’s one homer shy of tying his career best.
Jordan Montgomery turned in another strong outing with his new team. Montgomery allowed one run on three hits over 6 2/3 innings and did not get a decision. He struck out six, walked two and left with it tied 1-1.
Jake Woodford (4-0) pitched the ninth for the victory.
Luke Voit hit a two-run homer for Washington.
Abbott allowed one run on five hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out five and did not walk a batter.
Joey Meneses broke a 1-1 tie with two-out single in the eighth of reliever Giovanny Gallegos. Voit followed with his 19th homer of the season for a 4-1 cushion. He made his major league debut in St. Louis and played 70 games with the Cardinals from 2017-18.
The Nationals tied it at 1 on a two-out triple by Cesar Hernandez in the seventh. Nelson Cruz drew a one-out walk to start the rally.
St. Louis climbed within 5-4 in the ninth on a run-scoring double by Nolan Arenado, a ground out by Corey Dickerson and an RBI single by Molina.
UP NEXT
RHP Adam Wainwright (10-9, 3.21) will face Washington RHP Josiah Gray (7-9, 4.91) in the finale of the four-game series on this afternoon. Wainwright and batterymate Yadier Molina will likely tie the career record for most games together at 324, which is currently held by the Detroit Tigers duo of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan (1963-1975).