The St. Louis Cardinals rode a surprising home run from Daniel Descalso and even more postseason baserunning heroics from Pete Kozma to two more runs, pushing their early lead in Game 2 of the NLDS to 7-1 over the Washington Nationals. After Sunday found both teams struggling to score at all the Cardinals have turned something on through four innings; they have eight hits, including a double and two home runs. In the fifth inning the Nationals finally got going themselves, cutting the deficit to 7-3 on back-to-back home runs from Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche.
The Nationals got off to a rough start through four innings, but the home runs were an abrupt reminder that no lead is entirely safe in a game that's already gone to the bullpen—and that's already been occasion for four home runs. (The Cardinals' two solo shots are courtesy Allen Craig and, a little more surprisingly, Daniel Descalso, who slugged all of .324 during the 2012 regular season.)
The Cardinals' four-run cushion is nice, but this game's outcome is equally dependent on whether the Cardinals' bullpen can get the ball to Jason Motte a little more efficiently than it has through two postseason games. Joe Kelly, their second long reliever, began moving in the bullpen after Lance Lynn allowed the back-to-back shots.