WASHINGTON • There was time during Monday’s game at Nationals Park, somewhere amidst the tempest of errors committed by Washington or the RBIs contributed by Stephen Piscotty, that the Cardinals appeared to have a hold on the game.
When that slipped, it got ugly.
Then it got worse.
All the flaws from the first week of the season — and some new ones — cascaded onto the Cardinals en masse and they foundered, awash in a 14-6 loss to the host Washington Nationals. A ruptured bullpen turned a close game into a rout. The defense offered no favors, extending innings or spurring rallies.