Floro serves up walk-off homer, Nats fail to sweep Cards (updated)

ST. LOUIS – After a two-night stretch in which they drove in 24 runs with a flurry of clutch hits, especially late-game hits, the Nationals found themselves in need of just one more late this afternoon if they wanted to pull off a rare sweep of the Cardinals.

That hit proved far more elusive in the daylight than it did the previous two evenings. And that only set the stage for St. Louis to deliver the final blow this afternoon with an even rarer development.

Paul Goldschmidt’s leadoff homer off Dylan Floro in the bottom of the ninth propelled the Cardinals to a 4-3 walk-off win, leaving the Nats to be content with a series victory but not a weekend sweep against a quality opponent.

It was the first home run surrendered this season by Floro, and it came in his 51st appearance.

"If you keep the ball in the ballpark, that means you're giving up less runs, I guess," said the 33-year-old, whose ERA was down to 1.89 prior to that final at-bat. "I'm a groundball pitcher, so I take pride in that."

The Nationals got another quality pitching performance from starter DJ Herz, who allowed two runs over five innings while striking out eight. They needed perfection from their bullpen, though, and they didn’t get it, even though Floro recorded four outs on a mere 10 pitches to get out of the seventh and eighth innings.

But unable to push across the go-ahead run late, they were left to ask Floro to re-take the mound for the bottom of the ninth and hope he could keep the game tied. The plan, per manager Davey Martinez, was for Floro to face only Goldschmidt, then summon left-hander Jose A. Ferrer to face Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar, saving closer Kyle Finnegan for a 10th inning that ultimately never came.

"We had (Ferrer) up for the lefties coming up," Martinez said. "We just wanted to try to get that one hitter, and he had a very limited pitch count. He said he felt fine."

Five pitches later, the veteran right-hander spun around in horror and watched as Goldschmidt’s blast off a high sinker sailed over the left field wall for the game-winning homer.

"It was one of those things I kind of felt it out of the hand," said Floro, who was last taken deep Sept. 11, 2023 when he pitched for the Twins. "That's not where I wanted the pitch. I didn't execute the pitch. And a hitter like Goldschmidt, I've faced him quite a few times. He kind of knows, has an idea. And when I don't execute a pitch, that's what's going to happen." 

The Nationals’ decision to demote Herz to Triple-A earlier this month was about managing his innings, trying to conserve something for later this season. But those two weeks in the minors alone aren’t going to do the trick. They’re going to have to find ways to minimize his workload in the majors the rest of the way as well.

"He only threw four innings when we sent him down," Martinez said. "So I want to limit him to about five innings, 80 pitches. But we'll get him built up again. If he's pitching well, we'll try to stretch him out a little bit."

What that has looked like over the last week: Herz has been pulled after five innings of two-run ball in each of his starts since returning, his pitch count coincidentally at 79 in each instance. The way he looked today, he easily could’ve kept going for quite a while longer.

Herz showed off an impressive combination of fastball command and life during this start. He threw 56 of those 79 pitches for strikes overall and got Cardinals hitters to whiff on an impressive 15 of their 27 swings against the fastball.

"I told (catcher Riley Adams) in the second: 'The fastball's got some git today,'" Herz said. "I can feel it out of the hand. I can see it. It's got some extra life. I told him and we just kind of rolled with it."

The lefty wasn’t perfect. He served up a blast to Willson Contreras in the bottom of the first, Contreras’ fourth homer against the Nationals in seven games this season. And he allowed a run-scoring triple to Pedro Pagés in the top of the second, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead. But that’s all he allowed for the day.

Herz finished strong, retiring 10 of the last 11 batters he faced, seven of those by strikeout. All told, he finished with eight strikeouts and only one walk across five strong innings.

"I wanted to stay sharp over the break," he said. "I knew I was coming back. I wanted to be ready to go. It's good. I'm getting ahead, I'm attacking, I'm being efficient. That's all the things I want to see from myself."

And thanks to some run support, Herz departed in line for the win.

A Nationals lineup that took a whopping 38 at-bats with runners in scoring position through the first two games of the series gave itself plenty more chances in today’s finale. The team only recorded one hit in such situations through seven innings but found other ways to get guys home and take the lead against veteran starter Miles Mikolas.

With runners on second and third and nobody out in the third, CJ Abrams grounded to first, good enough to bring Adams home. Moments later, Lane Thomas ripped his second double of the afternoon, extending his league-leading streak of games reaching base to 25 and tying this game at 2-2.

James Wood then took over in the sixth, both with his bat and his legs. Bumped up to the No. 3 spot in the lineup to account for the trade of Jesse Winker to the Mets, the 21-year-old ripped a base hit down the right field line and then galloped his way to his first career triple, one that didn’t even require a slide. That put him in position to score moments later on Juan Yepez’s sacrifice fly to right, giving the Nationals their first lead of the game.

"Once he gets going, he's moving," Martinez said. "Those strides are super long. It's fun to watch him get around the bases."

That lead lasted only one inning, though. After Derek Law tossed a scoreless sixth, Robert Garcia gave up the tying run with two outs in the seventh, issuing a walk in front of back-to-back singles, the latter of them a well placed grounder to the left-side hole just past Abrams’ reach.

And so this game was knotted up again, each team hoping to execute enough in the late innings to emerge victorious. The Cardinals did. The Nationals did not.

"Overall, I can't be disappointed, because we played really well this series, to a really good team, too," Martinez said, "We've just got to come back tomorrow and try to go 1-0."