WASHINGTON — With the drizzle at first pitch developing into steady rain by the middle innings, Trevor Williams simply tried to throw a bunch of strikes and stay mentally tough.
Williams outpitched Miles Mikolas in soggy conditions, CJ Abrams went 3 for 3 with a homer and the Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on Wednesday to end a five-game skid.
“When it’s raining and you see rain in the forecast, it’s easier to kind of shut your mind off thinking that we’re going to get rained out,” Williams said. “For everyone to come and play and be locked in from the first pitch was huge for us.”
With the rain getting heavier in the fifth inning, Abrams sent a 1-0 fastball from Mikolas (4-5) into the visitors’ bullpen in left-center.
“He was throwing those sinkers running away from me, so I was just trying to go the other way with it,” Abrams said. “I didn’t think it was going to go out, but it left.”
Williams (4-4) allowed five hits and threw 75 pitches while working into the seventh inning for the first time this year as he cooled off the Cardinals, who had won four straight and scored eight or more runs in their last three. St. Louis was shut out for the seventh time this season.
“The game plan going in was just to attack the zone and hopefully they make weak contact early,” Williams said. “With the wet field, you never know what could happen.”
Washington Nationals CJ Abrams scores on a solo home run in the rain during the fifth inning of a baseball game against St. Louis Cardinals at Nationals Park, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in Washington. Credit: AP/Andrew Harnik
Williams departed after Lars Nootbaar’s leadoff single in the seventh. Reliever Mason Thompson walked Nolan Arenado, then got two outs before Kyle Finnegan came on and induced an inning-ending grounder. Finnegan completed the eighth and Hunter Harvey pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
Jeimer Candelario drove in runs for Washington with a double in the sixth and a…
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