ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Ryan Zimmerman homered twice, then doubled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning as the Washington Nationals ended their nine-game losing streak at St. Louis, beating the Cardinals 4-3 Wednesday night.
Zimmerman reached 200 career home runs with his second shot. Jayson Werth also homered for the Nationals.
Nationals starter Max Scherzer struck out 11, gave up 11 hits and left with a 3-2 lead after the sixth.
Johnathon Papelbon earned his 23rd save in 23 chances, escaping a first-and-third, one-out jam in the ninth. Rafael Martin (1-0) got one out for his first career victory.
 
Zimmerman homers twice, doubles as Nationals beat Cardinals
 
Johnathan Broxton (1-4) took the loss.
Brandon Moss hit a 454-foot homer for St. Louis, which leads the Pirates by six games with 29 to play in the NL Central.
Kolten Wong had three hits for the Cardinals in their second loss in 11 games.
Moss ended Wednesday night's game in the ninth with a three-run homer. He led the second against Scherzer with the longest home run by a left-hander at 10-year-old Busch Stadium and the fifth-longest overall.
The Nationals answered with homers by Werth in the third and drives by Zimmerman in the fourth and sixth.
Zimmerman has 16 homers in an injury-abbreviated season, four in this series.
 

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