Yunel Escobar's walk-off homer wins it in the 10th

The Nationals wasted a prime scoring opportunity in the second when first baseman Ryan Zimmerman led off with a double to the the gap in right-center field.

Third baseman Yunel Escobar followed with a great piece of hitting to move ZImmerman over to third on a groundout to first. But Zimmerman would be stranded there as catcher Wilson Ramos would strike out and, after an intentional walk to second baseman Danny Espinosa, starter Gio Gonzalez would pop out to end the inning.

Gonzalez has kept the Cardinals scoreless through the first three inning, allowing three hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Update: The Nats capitalized on a one-out double from shortstop Ian Desmond in the third. After left fielder Jayson Werth walked, right fielder Bryce Harper placed a chopper perfectly through the hole to bring Desmond around.

Zimmerman then smoked another ball deep toward the scoreboard that Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay was able to make a tremendous running catch on. Harper had left first and rounded second base and had to quickly retreat as Jay hurried the throw back to the infield. As Escobar came to the plate, Cardinals starter Lance Lynn wheeled and threw to second base. Harper was ruled out on an appeal play for not touching second base on his return to first and the inning ended.

Gonzalez gave up a walk and a double in the fourth with no harm done.

Update II: Gonzalez made it through six innings tonight without allowing a run on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts. He threw 107 pitches on the night.

Right-hander Tanner Roark is in to start the seventh.

Update III: Roark pitched a scoreless seventh and left-hander Matt Thornton blanked the Cardinals in the eighth. Desmond helped Thornton to start the inning by robbing Jay of a base hit when he went deep in the hole to field a ground ball and then fire across to Zimmerman.

Update IV: Closer Drew Storen gave up a leadoff single to third baseman Matt Carpenter in the ninth. Carpenter advanced to second on a wild pitch and then to third when Ramos couldn't control the final pitch of Storen's strikeout of right fielder Jason Heyward.

Left fielder Matt Holliday followed with a single to left to score Carpenter to tie the game. Holliday is 4-for-4 after already extending his hitting streak to 12 games earlier in the night.

Storen was able to get shortstop Jhonny Peralta swinging and then Ramos threw out Holliday at second on an attempted steal to end the inning. But the damage was done.

Update V:The Nats loaded the bases with one out in the ninth but Desmond struck out. Werth came to bat with two outs and smoked a line drive to center that looked to have won the game for the Nats until Jay came diving in to make a sensational game-saving catch.

Update VI: Escobar hit a two-out walk-off homer to win the game 2-1 in the bottom of the 10th. It's Escobar's second homer of the season. The Nats improve to 7-7 on the season.