Adam Wainwright allowed one unearned run over seven innings to help the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-1 win against the visiting Washington Nationals in the rubber game of their three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.

Wainwright (13-9) scattered eight hits, struck out three and walked one.

Matt Wieters hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the seventh inning to give St. Louis (85-67) a four-run cushion. Tommy Edman homered, singled, drove in two runs and scored twice. Kolten Wong also had two hits for the Cardinals, who lead the National League Central by two games over the Brewers and Cubs after both Milwaukee and Chicago lost Wednesday.

Wainwright, 38, was matched against 35-year-old right-hander Max Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner who came in tied for fifth in career wins (169) among active major league pitchers.

Wainwright, who has never won a Cy Young Award but finished in the top three in voting four times, entered Wednesday ninth among active pitchers with 160 wins.

Scherzer (10-7) gave up five runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 11 and didn't walk a batter.

Yan Gomes had three hits for Washington (83-68), which remains 1 1/2 games ahead of the Cubs and Brewers in the race for the two NL wild cards. Trea Turner had two hits and an RBI, and Howie Kendrick also had two hits.

The Nationals scored an unearned run in the seventh to cut the deficit to 2-1, but St. Louis answered with three runs off Scherzer after he got the first two batters out in the bottom half of the inning.

Paul DeJong doubled, and Edman knocked him in with a single. Wieters then pinch-hit for Wainwright and blasted a two-run homer to right for a 5-1 lead.

Scherzer retired the first seven batters of the game before Edman homered to right for a 1-0 lead. It was the 10th homer of the season for Edman, giving the Cardinals 10 players with at least 10 homers this season, a franchise record.

DeJong made it 2-0 with a run-scoring groundout in the fifth.

--Field Level Media