The St. Louis Cardinals had a scare in the late innings, but they were able to hold off the Washington Nationals for a 5-4 victory that improved the Cardinals record to 3-1.

Braden Looper pitched six strong innings only giving up five hits and one earned run.  But in the seventh inning, Russ Springer game into the ballgame and gave up three hits including a three run homerun to Christian Guzman that cut the lead to one.  Luckily for Springer and the Cardinals, the Nationals were not able to get another run to tie the game.

Rick Ankiel picked up two more RBI’s and Yadier Molina, Aaron Miles, and Looper both had one each.

The Cardinals will try for another victory over the Nationals on Saturday.