Nationals strive to end five-game skid in matchup vs. Cardinals

The optimism of the opening days of the season has begun to fade for the Washington Nationals as they open a three-game home series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.

After winning three of four games out of the gate, the Nationals have dropped five straight after the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied late for an 8-6 win on Sunday.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, spent the first eight games alternating pairs of wins and losses. On Sunday they ended a two-game skid and salvaged the series finale against the Detroit Tigers, 5-3, thanks to a four-run fifth inning.

St. Louis will send Andre Pallante (1-0, 0.00 ERA) against fellow right-hander Zack Littell (0-1, 5.40) in the series opener.

Pallante beat the New York Mets in his first start of the season, pitching five scoreless innings Tuesday while allowing three hits and three walks. He struck out three in the Cardinals' 3-0 victory.

"He threw a really good game," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "Missing bats with the slider, used the sinker appropriately inside. What he was able to do with the baseball was really good."

Pallante is 2-2 with a 6.66 ERA in seven career games (three starts) vs. the Nationals.

In his first appearance of the season, Littell lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 last Tuesday. He entered in the second inning following opener P.J. Poulin and gave up three runs on three hits, two of them home runs, in five innings.

"Getting the shortened spring, we're still trying to get to a place where we can just go out there and compete and not worry about the execution, pitch shapes, how the body is moving," said Littell, who was signed by the Nationals during spring training. "We'll get there."

Littell is 0-2 with a 6.11 ERA in 11 career games (three starts) vs. St. Louis.

Ivan Herrera's two-run single was the key hit Sunday night in Detroit. With two outs and runners on second and third, Herrera went the opposite way to give the Cardinals a 4-2 lead.

He started the season 1-for-13 but has hit safely in six straight games to raise his batting average to .226. The 25-year-old Herrera was the designated hitter Sunday and has started three games behind the plate while Pedro Pages, 27, has made seven starts.

"I think we have to be smart about how that workload gets increased in order to have [Herrera] healthy for an entire season," Marmol told MLB.com. "But up to this point, I feel like he's done a really nice job behind the plate."

The Nationals got a solid start from Foster Griffin on Sunday, and home runs by Luis Garcia Jr. and James Wood helped build a 6-1 lead, but the Dodgers' bullpen tossed four scoreless innings and the defending World Series champions rallied.

"You've just got to wear it and move on from it and learn from it," Wood said. "Yeah, it's tough, but we're going to learn from it and keep battling and come out on top for more of these games."

Los Angeles scored four runs in the eighth to take a 7-6 lead and added a run in the ninth. Washington's bullpen has struggled early. In the past week, the unit has failed to protect leads of four and five runs, leaving the team 3-6 instead of 5-4.

--Field Level Media