WASHINGTON — In his first look as a visitor in the ballpark he called home for the first six years of his big league career, Erick Fedde did what he never had as a Washington National.

And he did not stop there.

Fedde authored the first complete game and shutout of his career with nine sterling innings in the Cardinals’ 10-0 victory against Washington at Nationals Park. Fedde’s gem came against the team that drafted him, developed him, and then saw him leave them to reinvent himself in Korea before returning to them to stuff them full of zeroes. Fedde’s shutout streak against his former team reached 16 innings.

The Cardinals’ winning streak reached a season-best six games.

Fedde is the first Cardinals’ starter to complete a shutout since long-gone lefty Jordan Montgomery did in August of 2022. Fedde (3-3) limited the Nats to six hits and struck out eight. He needed 109 pitches to get 27 outs at a ballpark where he had never collected more than 18 in any of his previous 54 appearances.

Two Cardinals returning to the lineup after absences on opposites ends of length – Ivan Herrera after a month, Nolan Arenado after missing a game — had contributions to the early and expanding lead. Herrera contributed two RBIs as the Cardinals constructed a six-run lead.

Arenado had three singles in his first three at-bats.

When Masyn Winn singled home a run in the eighth inning, every spot in the Cardinals order had at least one at-bat with a runner in scoring position. Seven had either a hit, an RBI, or, as in Winn’s case as the Cardinals piled on, both. Winn’s single was the only hit in the Cardinals’ three-run eighth inning. The two other runs scored on a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk.

By the time Fedde started the ninth inning, the Cardinals’ lineup had produced 11 hits and eight walks, scored on an error, and taken a base on three wild pitches.

Fedde fantastic in homecoming

For the third time in his career, Fedde threw a pitch in the eighth inning of a game he started.

Drafted 18th overall in 2014 by the Nationals out of UNLV, Fedde spent his first six seasons in the majors with Washington but rarely ever pitched for Washington like he has against Washington. The right-hander threw seven shutout innings for a win against the Nats a year ago when he was with the White Sox, and on Friday he added to that scoreless streak by stacking zeroes through the eighth inning.

Fedde had 45 starts at Nationals Park before Friday.

In his 46th, he did something he never had as a home pitcher.

Fedde had only twice pitched through six innings at home as a National, and he pitched through the seventh in his first start as a visitor. He didn’t stop there. Fedde retired all three batters he faced in the eighth inning to complete it on his 92nd pitch. Of the five hits Fedde allowed in the first seven innings, Nationals leadoff hitter CJ Abrams had three of them.

Fedde pitched around Abrams' leadoff double in the first inning with a pair of ground balls. Abrams' single in the third came with two outs, and the inning fizzled quick when Fedde froze James Woods with a sinker to end the inning with a called strike three. Abrams flared a single to left in the sixth inning, and anything that could have generated against Fedde vanished when the right-hander got an inning-ending double play to put his start with the Cardinals alongside his best ever for the Nationals at home.

Abrams was the only Nat to reach scoring position against Fedde and that came at the start of the first inning when he doubled.

While Nationals starter Mitchell Parker struggled through his early innings and saw his pitch count climb to 70 by the time he finished the third inning. Fedde to that point had thrown only 22 to get six outs from seven batters.

Cards turn walks into runs

Fedde wasn’t the only starter entering Friday’s game to have a few fistfuls of walks this season. Washington lefty Parker had walked 11 total in his previous 17 innings, nine in his previous nine innings over two starts. He had allowed a dozen runs in those starts in large part because he kept gifting first base.

His benevolence did not stop with the first inning Friday.

Parker walked the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter, Lars Nootbaar, on four pitches, and before he could get to his 12th pitch, Parker also walked No. 2 hitter Masyn Winn. By the time the inning got to cleanup hitter Arenado, he had two teammates on via walk, one out, and a chance to return to the lineup with quick splash of RBIs. Arenado worked Parker through 10 pitches and got a base hit — his first of two singles with runners in scoring position that did not produce a run. This one loaded the bases and kept an inning rolling.

Willson Contreras had the breakthrough hit with a two-run double that scored both of his teammates who walked. Five batters into the game, Parker’s two walks had turned into a 2-0 deficit.

His gift-giving slowed.

The Cardinals’ offense did not.

Herrera puts the hit in designated hitter

Back after a month on the injured list with a bone bruise, Herrera did not want to wait long to make an impact — and did not have to, either.

“Can’t wait for this game today,” he said a few hours before first pitch.

Starting at designated hitter so that the team can “ease” him back into the catcher’s role, Herrera did just that. When Brendan Donovan opened the third inning with a double, Herrera followed three batters later with a sacrifice fly to increase the Cardinals’ lead to 3-0. In fifth inning, the Cardinals welcomed Jackson Rutledge to the game with back-to-back singles. Herrera followed by pushing for a double and another RBI.

Sandwiched in between Herrera’s RBIs was a sacrifice fly by Victor Scott II, giving the Cardinals a 6-0 lead before the Nationals could get an out in the fifth inning.

Going into the eighth inning, Herrera had two RBIs and the double, though his average had dipped from the .381 he started the day with to a .375. His OPS stood at 1.429.

Although there’s the month gap, Herrera has 11 RBIs in his past four games.

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