Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
St. Louis 3, Washington 2
When: 8:15 PM ET, Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
Temperature: 68°
Umpires: Home - Sam Holbrook, 1B - Brian Knight, 2B - Greg Gibson, 3B - Gerry Davis
Attendance: 36345
Ryan Ludwick homered in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 2-2 tie and send the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Felipe Lopez had a two-run homer in the third inning and Chris Carpenter turned in a solid start as St. Louis swept the brief two-game series.

After watching the Nationals tie the score in the top of the eighth, the Cardinals looked to be in business with a lead-off walk from Nick Stavinoha.

But Brendan Ryan entered as a pinch runner and was promptly picked-off before Ludwick belted a solo shot to left off reliever Tyler Clippard (7-3).

Carpenter (5-1) scattered nine hits over eight innings, allowing two runs -- one earned -- while striking out five and walking none.

Ryan Franklin worked a perfect ninth for his ninth save of the season.

Wil Nieves belted his first homer of the season in the fifth inning before the Nationals evened things up in the eighth when Ian Desmond singled to center to score Ryan Zimmerman.

Cristian Guzman had three hits for Washington, who have dropped five in a row.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Washington   St. Louis
John Lannan Player Chris Carpenter
No Decision W/L Win
6.0 IP 8.0
2 Strikeouts 5
5 Hits 9
3.00 ERA 1.12
Hitting
Washington   St. Louis
Cristian Guzman Player Albert Pujols
3 Hits 1
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
3 TB 1
.600 Avg .333
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Washington 9 1 13 .257 19 5 2 0 0 0
St. Louis 6 2 12 .222 9 2 3 4 0 2