ST. LOUIS (AP) — Austin Gomber learned plenty about pressure during a 15-game stint in the St. Louis Cardinals’ bullpen earlier this season.

The left-hander used that experience to his advantage on Wednesday night.

Gomber tossed six shutout innings in his fourth start of the year, Marcell Ozuna homered and the Cardinals won their season-high eighth straight game, 4-2 over the Washington Nationals.

The Cardinals, who are 18-9 since the All-Star break, captured their sixth successive series after taking the first three of the four-game set.

Gomber gave up three hits, struck out six and walked four. He wriggled out of a pair of jams while nursing a 1-0 lead.

Gomber ended his 99-pitch outing by striking out three successive batters after giving up a leadoff double to Bryce Harper in the sixth.

Gomber (3-0) struck out Michael A. Taylor looking with the bases loaded to end the fourth. He retired Anthony Rendon on a flyball with runners on first and third in the fifth.

Daniel Murphy homered in the ninth for Washington, which has lost four in a row and seven of nine to fall below .500 and nine games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East. The current skid began with a loss to the Cubs on a two-out, walk-off grand slam.

Ozuna homered in the second inning, his 14th of the season and his first since July 30, covering 62 plate appearances.

Harrison Bader and Yadier Molina added run-scoring hits for St. Louis, which improved to 19-9 since Mike Matheny was fired and replaced by Shildt on July 15.

Bud Norris pitched the ninth to pick up his 23rd save in 27 opportunities,

St. Louis infielder Matt Carpenter extended his on-base streak to 33 games with a walk in the fifth. It’s the longest current streak in the majors. Carpenter left the game in the seventh after he was hit on the hand by a pitch from Matt Grace, but X-rays were negative.

Washington starter Jeremy Hellickson (5-3) left in the fifth inning after he fell on his wrist on a play at the plate following a wild pitch. Hellickson gave up three runs, two earned, on three hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked two.

Bader, who had three hits, also made a diving catch of a liner off the bat of Harper in the fourth. Bader scampered home on a wild pitch in the fifth inning for a 2-0 lead.

The Cardinals, who have an NL-best 12-2 mark in August, remain one game behind Philadelphia for the second wild-card spot. They are four games behind Chicago in the NL Central.

UP NEXT

RHP Tanner Roark (7-12, 4.12) will face RHP Luke Weaver (6-10, 4.66) in the finale of the four-game series on Thursday. Roark has won his last four decisions. Weaver is 1-4 with a 5.13 ERA in nine career games against NL East foes.

At their regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, the Atlantic City Council unanimously approved a street name change to honor Atlantic native Ed Podolak. The small section of East 11th Street in front of the Atlantic Middle School and Schuler Elementary will now be known as Ed Podolak Drive.

Ed was born and raised in Atlantic and is a 1965 graduate of Atlantic High School. He went on to star as a multiple position football player at the University of Iowa before playing professionally for the Kansas City Chiefs. Podolak was part of the 1970 Super Bowl Champion Chiefs during his rookie season in professional football. Ed lead the Chiefs in rushing for four seasons and currently sits 5th on the team’s all-time rushing list with 4,451 career yards and 34 touchdowns. In the Chiefs’ playoff loss to the Miami Dolphins on Christmas Day in 1971 Podolak had a playoff-record 350 total yards: 85 rushing, 110 receiving, and 155 return yards. He was inducted into the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1989.

Following his playing career Podolak turned to broadcasting where he currently serves as the Color Commentator for Iowa Hawkeyes Football broadcasts alongside Gary Dolphin.

New black and gold street signs will go up this week and a dedication ceremony is set to be held on Sunday at 2:00pm at the Trojan Bowl. The ceremony will be at the end of the Atlantic Sesquicentennial Block party on the Atlantic Middle School grounds from 11:00am-3:00pm.

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The Iowa Association of Track Coaches released their preseason individual runner rankings on Tuesday. Here is a look at the Top-30 lists for each class with local athletes in bold.

4A Boys

4A Girls

3A Boys

3A Girls

2A Boys

2A Girls

1A Boys

1A Girls

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nationals manager Dave Martinez was awake most of the night after Washington lost on a walk-off grand slam Sunday.

He likely won’t be catching up on that missed sleep Monday.

Paul DeJong handed the Nationals their second straight walk-off loss, capping a back-and-forth finish with a game-ending solo homer in the ninth inning of the St. Cardinals’ 7-6 victory Monday night.

DeJong took Koda Glover (0-1) deep leading off the ninth on a 3-1 pitch. A night earlier, Ryan Madson allowed a game-ending ninth-inning grand slam to the Chicago Cubs’ David Bote in a 4-3 defeat.

Washington’s bullpen has blown saves in three of its past four games. All-Star closer Sean Doolittle has been on the disabled list since early July, and top setup man Kelvin Herrera went to the DL with right rotator cuff impingement last week.

The usually stoic DeJong wasn’t quite sure how to celebrate his first career walk-off homer. He started calm, keeping his head down as he rounded the bases. After coming around third, though, he whipped his helmet into the grass, threw his arms down and bellowed out a roar.

The Cardinals recorded their 10th walkoff of the season and DeJong became the sixth different player to end a game in grand fashion.

The Cardinals have won six in a row and moved to nine games over .500 for the first time this season.

DeJong’s 380-foot drive ended a wild final two innings.

Matt Carpenter and Jedd Gyorko homered in the eighth inning to put St. Louis up 6-4. Gyorko started the rally with a leadoff drive, and Carpenter followed with a three-run homer off Sammy Solis.

The Nationals tied it at 6 in the top of the ninth on RBI singles by Daniel Murphy and Matt Wieters off closer Bud Norris. Dakota Hudson (3-0) relieved Norris and stranded two baserunners by retiring Wilmer Difo and Adam Eaton.

Juan Soto and Bryce Harper homered for the Nationals, who have lost five of seven.

Gyorko sparked St. Louis’ big eighth inning with his homer off Justin Miller. Kolten Wong and Patrick Wisdom then singled to set up Carpenter’s 33rd homer. Carpenter has homered in seven of his past 10 games. He extended his major-league leading on-base streak to 31 games with a first-inning bunt single. He has 17 homers during that string.

Harper won a 10-pitch battle with starter Miles Mikolas by drilling his 29th homer leading off the fourth to lead 2-1.

Ryan Zimmerman added a run-scoring double in the second for the Nationals.

Jose Martinez had four hits for the Cardinals.

Mikolas gave up four runs on four hits over seven innings. He struck out four and walked one.

Tommy Milone started for Washington and gave up two runs on 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings.

UP NEXT

LHP Gio Gonzalez (7-8, 3.39) will face RHP John Gant (4-4, 3.89) in the second of the four-game series Tuesday. Gonzalez has allowed just two earned runs over 14 innings in two starts this season against St. Louis. Gant made his major league debut against Washington on April 6, 2016 as a member of the Atlanta Braves.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals were a .500 team after a loss on July 25, but since then they’ve been the hottest team in the National League.

Yadier Molina broke a tie with a two-run single in the seventh inning, Tyson Ross won his St. Louis debut and the Cardinals defeated the Kansas City Royals 8-2 on Sunday to win their fifth straight, matching a season high.

The Cardinals moved eight games above .500, equaling their season high set on June 11, and are a National League-best 12-4 since July 27. Manager Mike Matheny was fired on July 14 in an attempt to jump-start the disappointing team.

Molina’s bases-loaded single in the seventh scored Harrison Bader and Patrick Wisdom, who had two hits, drove in a run and scored two in his major league debut. Wisdom’s RBI single had tied it at 2-2.

The Cardinals concluded a three-city trip with a 7-2 record.

Ross, who last pitched on Aug. 3 for San Diego, was an emergency starter, replacing Luke Weaver, who was scratched after cutting his right index finger on the aluminum foil cover of his clubhouse meal on Saturday night.

Ross (7-9), who made 22 starts with the Padres before the Cardinals claimed him on waivers last week, allowed two runs on four hits and two walks in six innings.

Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer in a three-run ninth to cap the scoring.

Jason Hammel (2-12) entered in the seventh and retired none of the four batters he faced. He was charged with three runs.

Jakob Junis limited the Cardinals to three singles, walked none and struck out eight before leaving after six innings with a 2-1 lead.

Lucas Duda singled home Salvador Perez in the third to put Kansas City up 2-1. Alex Gordon scored in the first after an error by Wisdom, the first baseman.

The Royals have lost nine of 10 and are 15-46 since May 30.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas will start the opener of a four-game series against the Washington Nationals at Busch Stadium.