WASHINGTON -- By the time the Cardinals' six-run lead shrunk to one on Wednesday night at Nationals Park, the topic of the past two days had surfaced once again. Manager Mike Shildt hoped that Matt Adams' two home runs against his former team, a stingy Miles Mikolas and the early cushion the Cardinals mounted would be enough to push their lingering bullpen issues into the periphery.
But it didn't, until Carlos Martinez entered. With the rest of his relief corps taxed and another save situation suddenly upon him, Shildt tasked Martinez with recording the final six outs to secure a 7-6 victory over the Nationals.