Brandon Moss walks it off in St. Louis!

In game one of a three game series against the Washington Nationals, the St. Louis Cardinals had themselves a five-run seventh inning to comeback from being down 5-3 to win 8-5. The win put them at 39 games over .500 as they looked for their fourth straight win on Tuesday night.

But they’d have to do so without one of their starters.

Carlos Martinez was scratched from his scheduled start due to a sore back, although he isn’t expected to be out for any long duration of time. Meanwhile, Marco Gonzales made his long-anticipated season debut for the Cardinals in the place of Martinez. Overall, the starters for the game were Gonzales (2015 debut), and Joe Ross (5-5, 3.24) for the Nationals.

And, while it wasn’t easy by any means, the perseverance of St. Louis shined once again in an 8-5 victory.

After two scoreless innings by both teams, the Nationals got on the board first in the third inning, and they did so in a big way. It began with back-to-back singles by Ross and Jayson Werth. Anthony Rendon doubled to right field, scoring both Ross and Werth to make it 2-0. Bryce Harper scored Rendon on a sacrifice fly during the next at-bat. With one out, Ryan Zimmerman, who scored four RBI’s yesterday, hit a solo home run to make it 4-0 (his 14th home run of the season).

Following another single by Yunel Escobar, Gonzales was taken out of the game as his rough outing wasn’t getting any better. Carlos Villanueva entered the game and got the final outs necessary to end the inning. The final line of the evening for Gonzales: 2.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.

St. Louis was able to score their first run of the game in the bottom of the third when Jhonny Peralta singled home Matt Carpenter for his 60th RBI on the year, which made the game 4-1 Nationals. With Jason Heyward up next, Ross issued his fourth walk of the game, putting two on with two outs for Yadier Molina. And Molina was walked as well, loading the bases for Kolten Wong. And much like Heyward and Molina before him, Wong was issued a walk to make it 4-2 Nationals, which signaled the end for Ross, as the Nationals brought in Doug Fister.

With the bases still loaded, Mark Reynolds, who entered with an eight-game hitting streak, got hit by a pitch right away, scoring another run, as it became a one-run game. Brandon Moss, entering with a five-game hitting streak, was struck out by Fister to end the inning, but not before the damage was already done.

Villanueva had himself one of his best performances of the season, striking out six batters through 3.1 innings. It remained a 4-3 game until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Moss first led off with a double. Villanueva followed by reaching on an infield single, putting runners on the corners with no one out. Up next was Carpenter, who lined out to Rendon on a impressive defensive play.

With one out and two runners on, Stephen Piscotty came to the plate, as Pete Kozma entered as a pinch runner for Villanueva, and Piscotty singled to load the bases with one out, which brought up Peralta. But he grounded into a double play to end the inning, with Washington still holding onto a 4-3 lead.

Seth Maness entered to pitch the seventh inning for the Cardinals, and the Nationals were able to score another run, on a groundout by Escobar, to make it 5-3 Nationals.

The Cardinals, however, were not done. In the top of the eighth inning, Tommy Pham and Moss reached base right away, bringing up Greg Garcia with two on and no one out. Garcia laid down a bunt, and a misplayed throw to third base led to Pham scoring to make it 5-4. Washington intentionally walked Carpenter to get to Piscotty, and Piscotty hit into a double play, but tied the game at 5-5 in the process.

Meanwhile, on the mound, Mitch Harris pitched two scoreless innings for the Cardinals, as the game headed to the bottom of the ninth tied at 5-5. In the bottom of the inning, Cody Stanley hit his first career extra base hit, to put the winning run on with two outs. After issuing a walk to Pham, Moss stepped up to the plate, looking for his second walk-off as a member of the Cardinals.

And Moss crushed a home run onto the grass in center field to give the Cardinals an 8-5 victory, as they now start the month of September being 40 games over .500, as they are now 86-46. With the Pirates losing to the Brewers, St. Louis also is now 6.0 games in front of the National League Central division.

Tomorrow, in the series finale, Michael Wacha will get the start.

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

(Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)