Cardinals’ Carlos Martinez buckles late in pitchers’ duel

5:03 PM ET

ST. LOUIS – Carlos Martinez pitched with a lot on his shoulders Sunday afternoon and bore it well for most of the game, but it all came caving in late on the St. Louis Cardinals.

The result was a 6-1 loss to Max Scherzer and the Washington Nationals, who became the latest quality opponent to exert their dominance over the Cardinals.

For a while, Martinez got hooked in a crisp and entertaining game opposite native St. Louisan Scherzer, who got his first win at Busch Stadium — 20 miles from where he grew up — with seven shutout innings and nine strikeouts. Martinez pitched brilliantly for five innings, needing just 63 pitches to get through them and striking out six. His fastball was popping Yadier Molina’s mitt at between 96 and 98 mph. He also threw some devastating curveballs, including the one that …

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