Pallante takes shutout into the 8th, and Cardinals beat Nationals 4-2 for 7th straight win

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Trevor Williams throws during the first inning of a baseball challenge against the St Louis Cardinals Saturday May in Washington AP Photo Nick Wass AP Nick Wass Washington Nationals starting pitcher Trevor Williams throws during the first inning of a baseball encounter against the St Louis Cardinals Saturday May in Washington AP Photo Nick Wass AP Nick Wass WASHINGTON AP Andre Pallante took a shutout into the eighth inning in the second-longest outing of his career and the St Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to seven with a - accomplishment over the Washington Nationals on Saturday Ryan Helsley allowed the Nationals to load the bases in the ninth but retired CJ Abrams on a first-pitch flyball for his seventh save in nine chances The Cardinals couldn t quite close out a third straight shutout Dylan Crews hit a two-run homer in the eighth for the first runs against St Louis since the sixth inning Tuesday night against Pittsburgh The Cardinals followed that up with a - win over the Pirates and then opened the series in Washington with a - conquest All four runs for St Louis came in the second inning Saturday Pallante - pitched more than seven innings for only the second time The other was also against the Nationals when he threw eight scoreless frames July Washington certainly chased the right-hander Saturday when Crews went deep with one out in the eighth JoJo Romero made it through the rest of the eighth despite allowing a couple baserunners Trevor Williams - allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings St Louis had men on first and third with two outs in the second and Williams couldn t escape the inning unscathed Pedro Pag s and Victor Scott hit consecutive RBI singles and Lars Nootbaar drove home two more runs with a double Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado was hit on the left hand by a pitch in the eighth He stayed in the contest Key moment After retiring the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth Helsley allowed a single and two walks before in the end getting Abrams for the final out Key stat The Cardinals have won seven in a row for the first time since an eight-game run from Aug - That streak included the last time an individual St Louis pitcher threw a shutout before Erick Fedde repeated the feat by going the distance against the Nationals on Friday Up next Miles Mikolas - was set to start for St Louis on Sunday against Mackenzie Gore - AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source