MLB playoffs: Clutch Cardinals show they cannot be counted out

ST. LOUIS — Never count out the Cardinals in October — especially after they lose a series opener.

Carlos Beltran hit the last two of the Cardinals' four homers and St. Louis chased an ineffective Jordan Zimmermann early in a 12-4 rout of the Washington Nationals on Monday that tied their NL division series at one game apiece.

"We know this offense has the potential to do this," Cardinals rookie manager Mike Matheny said. "It was nice to see this, and hopefully it becomes contagious and the guys just keep going."

Allen Craig and Daniel Descalso also went deep to help the defending World Series champions build a big lead that compensated for a two-inning start from an ailing Jaime Garcia. Craig hit his fifth career postseason homer and scored three times.

Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche hit consecutive homers in the fifth for the Nationals, who head home for the remainder of the best-of-five series. But the NL East champions are without All-Star ace Stephen Strasburg, shut down for the rest of the season early last month to protect his surgically repaired arm.

Game 3 is Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Park, the first postseason contest in the nation's capital since the original Senators played the New York Giants in the 1933 World Series. Edwin Jackson starts for Washington against longtime Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who made only three starts during the regular season because of injury.

"Today, for us, was a must-win game," Beltran said.

The Cardinals seem to live for those. They lost the division series and NLCS openers last fall, then finished strong in the World Series after spotting Texas a 3-2 lead.

So, they're on familiar ground. And once again, as a wild card.

"We knew how big this game was for us," center fielder Jon Jay said. "We've seen it all year — when we are able to do that, we are pretty dangerous."

There were no lineup changes in Game 2 of the division series, just a lot more clutch hitting from players accustomed to October pressure.

Beltran homered twice in the postseason for the third time in his career, connecting in the sixth off Mike Gonzalez and eighth off Sean Burnett. Jay had two hits and three RBIs, plus an outstanding catch at the center-field wall to deprive Danny Espinosa of extra bases in the sixth.

"One of the best catches I've seen. I think it's his best catch of the year," Matheny said. "He barely looked up as he was hitting the wall. Very impressive."

St. Louis was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position during Game 1 and totaled just three hits, but the Cardinals had five hits in a four-run second Monday.

Washington - St. Louis

NL Division Series (best of 5)

Series tied, 1-1

Game 1: Nationals 3, Cardinals 2

Game 2: Cardinals 12, Nationals 4

Game 3: Wednesday at Washington, TBA

Game 4: Thursday at Washington, TBA*

Game 5: Friday at Washington, TBA*

*if necessary