St. Louis Cardinals at Washington Nationals: Final Score & Recap

The St. Louis Cardinals handed the Washington Nationals a 6-1 defeat at Nationals Park on April 8, 2026, holding them scoreless until the third inning and never relinquishing the lead. The DiamondIQ model's estimate opened with Washington holding a 54% win probability at first pitch, but that figure eroded steadily through the night and finished at 0% as the Cardinals added insurance runs in the seventh and ninth to pull away convincingly. St. Louis finished with eight hits and committed no errors, while the Nationals managed just four hits against a Cardinals pitching staff that controlled the game from the second inning forward.

The decisive sequence began in the top of the second, when Alec Burleson delivered a single off Miles Mikolas that shifted win probability 7.7 points in St. Louis's favor, helping stake the Cardinals to a 2-0 lead that inning. Washington's best chance to respond came in the bottom half, but Drew Millas's lineout off Michael McGreevy swung the needle 6.8 points back toward St. Louis, and a Brady House ground into double play in the third cost the Nationals another 5.9 points of win probability. Jordan Walker then put the game further out of reach with a home run off Brad Lord in the fifth, a swing worth 11.8 points of win probability, before Burleson added another key single off Cionel Pérez in the seventh worth 9.0 points.

Burleson finished as the game's top offensive contributor by the DiamondIQ model's accounting, posting a combined WPA of plus 14.4% alongside a RE24 of plus 2.6, while Walker was close behind at plus 13.6% WPA. On the mound, Michael McGreevy was the story, accumulating a game-high plus 27.1% WPA as he consistently suppressed Washington's offense in the early and middle innings. Matt Svanson added plus 11.4% WPA in relief, with the Cardinals' collective pitching effort leaving the Nationals with virtually no path back into the contest.