WASHINGTON, D.C. - The St. Louis Cardinals stormed past the Washington Nationals by a score of 6-1 on Wednesday afternoon to improve to 3-6 on the young season. 

Mike Leake toed the rubber for the redbirds and dazzled with 7.0 innings of scoreless baseball, accompanied by seven strikeouts and only four hits. Leake sat down 19 batters in a row from the tail end of the first inning to the seventh frame. 

Former Mizzou tiger Max "Mad Max" Scherzer took the hill for the Nationals and was also impressive. He allowed only one run over 6.0 innings of work and K'd 10 Cardinals in the process. 

Outfielder Stephen Piscotty put on a hitting clinic in the batter's box on Wednesday, totaling five RBI. He did his damage on two RBI singles in the first and fifth innings before he dealt the crushing blow to the Nationals; a 3-run long ball in the top of the ninth to extend the lead to an irrecoverable 6-1.

The Cardinals are headed to New York for a 3-game tilt against the Yankees. Their first game will be Friday at 6:05 p.m. CT.