Rodriguez gets 3 RBIs, Garcia boosts St. Louis bid with 7Ks as Nationals beat Cardinals 4-2

Rodriguez drives in 3 runs, Nationals beat Cards

JUPITER, Fla. — Ivan Rodriguez drove in three runs as John Lannan and a split squad of Washington Nationals beat Kyle Lohse and the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 Tuesday.

The Nationals began the day at 0-11 this spring. They won a pair of split-squad games, including a 12-3 victory over Florida.

Lohse gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks in four innings.

“I felt better than the results,” said Lohse, who had allowed one run in his two other spring outings combined. “I was trying to get more ground ball outs. I did that but every time I left the ball up, they got in the air and it seemed to fall in for a hit, or they hit it hard, of course, that’s going to be a hit.”

Lannan, projected to be the Nationals’ starter on opening day, allowed an unearned run and two hits in four innings.

Jaime Garcia, hoping to earn the fifth spot in the Cardinals’ rotation, boosted his bid by striking out seven. The 23-year-old lefty gave up one hit and walked one in three innings. He pitched 10 games for St. Louis in 2008 and spent last year in the minors.

“He had a good day,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “He had several pitches that he was using. When you have stuff like that to work with, (catcher Yadier Molina) is the master of mixing it up and surprising guys.”

Lannan pitched a smooth first four innings.

“My No. 1 good feeling comes from Lannan’s performance,” said Washington manager Jim Riggleman, whose split squad also defeated Florida for the team’s first two wins of the spring.

“Certainly, we would rather win than lose. I just feel like when we were losing these games that there were enough positives to draw from, there were enough individual performances from guys who are going to be the core guys on our team that you could point to and say, OK,that is going to work.”

Ryan Ludwick went 2 for 4 with an RBI to lead the Cardinals’ seven-hit attack. Nick Stavinoha had the only other multi-hit game for St. Louis.