WASHINGTON — When, for sport, he recently listed the different ways teams can find ways to win within a ballgame, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol mentioned there are days when it’s on the starter, days when it’s a key relief performance, days when it’s all speed and small ball and days when it’s doubles and homers.

And then there are games like Sunday’s.

Games where they do a bit of everything to win.

The Cardinals shoved their winning streak to eight consecutive games with a win against the Washington Nationals. Miles Mikolas delivered five strong innings before a situation called for Steven Matz to provide that moment of pivotal relief. Lars Nootbaar led off the game with a homer, Willson Contreras led off the second with a homer and Nolan Arenado punctuated the afternoon with a homer in the eighth. Mix in some singles and what's become their trademark Saran Wrap defense and the Cardinals had all the things in their 6-1 victory on Mother’s Day.

A week ago, they started Sunday morning looking up at a doubleheader against the New York Mets and a five-game gap between them and a winning record.

The Cardinals haven’t lost since.

They called their mothers on Sunday as a second-place club with a 22-19 record and a week’s worth of evidence of their potential, especially against wayward teams like the Nationals and Pirates.

With the potential tying run at second, Matz retired both batters he faced in the sixth inning to preserve the win for Mikolas (2-2). The Cardinals rotation has gone 5-0 in the past five days with each starter receiving the win. Mikolas struck out five and pitched all of his 5 1/3 innings with only the two-run lead. The Cardinals added on later with rallies involving Arenado. The Cardinals third baseman doubled in the seventh and homers in the eighth to widen the lead.

The Cardinals bus to Philadelphia on Sunday evening unbeaten in five consecutive series and winners of three consecutive.

First swing’s first

Decked out in pink gear for Mother’s Day — from his cleats to his batting gloves, his shin guard to the bat in his hands — Nootbaar greeted this season’s top strikeout pitcher with a strike of his own. The Cardinals leadoff hitter put himself in a favorable count, 3-1, and then got the favorable pitch from MacKenzie Gore.

Nootbaar tagged a 96 mph fastball and planted it in the second deck above the home bullpen at Nationals Park.

The leadoff homer was Nootbaar’s seventh of his career.

It also staked the Cardinals to an early lead for the fourth consecutive game.

Nootbaar walked and scored in the first game of the series in Washington, the Cardinals got four runs in the second inning Saturday and by the end of the second Sunday had a 2-0 lead for Mikolas. A contributing factor for the rotation’s ability to pitch aggressively and thus efficiently and deep into the game has been pitching with the lead.

The ‘lefty lane’

A benefit to the starters’ deeper dives into game has been a fresh bullpen for moments exactly like the sixth inning.

If Mikolas had pitched through the seventh inning, the Cardinals rotation of the past week would have done something a Cardinals rotation had not done in 10 years. They were going for their fifth consecutive start of at least seven innings.

And then the sixth arrived.

A specific spot Marmol identified for Matz developed within the first three batters of the sixth. CJ Abrams opened the inning with a single off Mikolas. Alex Call bunted his teammate into scoring position to give Mikolas an out. Through 5 1/3 innings, the Cardinals’ veteran starter had allowed one run on a homer and scattered three other hits. He was through 16 outs on only 69 pitches, and yet looming was a third at-bat against left-handed hitter James Woods.

This was the “lefty lane” that Marmol often describes.

Due up for the Nationals was their No. 3 hitter Woods and their cleanup hitter Nathaniel Lowe. Both are left-handed hitters. Lowe hit the home run off Mikolas in the fourth inning. The one-run lead also factored into Marmol’s decision and he called for Matz.

The Cardinals swingman got a flyout from Woods and caught Lowe looking at strike three. Matz’s two quick outs stranded the potential tying run at second and unfolded just as Marmol described before the game about what likely would be the hinge in the game.

Scott adds to score, streak

When Matz returned to the mount for the seventh inning, he had the luxury of a larger lead after his teammates chased Gore from the game and added on some comfort.

Arenado opened the inning with a double, and he scored on Yohel Pozo’s RBI single. Ivan Herrera, starting Sunday at designated hitter, walked in between those hits and scored when Victor Scott II delivered for the second consecutive day.

The Cardinals’ young center fielder and No. 9 hitter threaded a single up the middle for an RBI and a 4-1 lead for the Cardinals. He also extended his career-best hitting streak to 11 games. With the single in the seventh inning, he was batting 13 for 34 (.382) during the streak.

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