WASHINGTON -- Adam Wainwright won his fifth straight decision and added a two-run double, and Greg Garcia had three hits and scored twice as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 9-4 on Saturday.

The Cardinals (26-24) defeated the Nationals (29-21) for the second day in a row after losing the previous five outings to Washington.

Ryan Zimmerman was 4-for-4 for Washington, including two homers. His solo shot in the seventh pulled the Nationals to within 6-4.

Pinch-hitter Matt Adams, batting for Wainwright, laced a two-run double down the right field line off lefty reliever Sammy Solis in the eighth to give the Cardinals an 8-4 lead. Yadier Molina had a sacrifice fly in the ninth to pad the margin to 9-4 off reliever Shawn Kelley.

Wainwright (5-3) went seven innings and allowed four runs on six hits, including three homers. He is 8-3 in his career against the Nationals.

Bryce Harper hit his 13th homer of the year, a solo shot off Wainwright in the sixth, to trim the margin to 6-3.

Matt Holliday (solo home run) and Randal Grichuk (RBI double) had two hits apiece for the Cardinals.

The losing pitcher was Gio Gonzalez (3-3), who has a 3.57 ERA after it was 1.86 before his last two starts.

The Cardinals scored four runs in the second as Garcia had an RBI single, Wainwright had a two-run double and Matt Carpenter followed with a run-scoring double as St. Louis took a 4-0 lead. That gave Wainwright eight RBIs this year.

Washington got on the board in the bottom of the second as Zimmerman smashed a two-run homer to make it 4-2. Daniel Murphy, who led off with a single, scored ahead of Zimmerman.

Holliday responded in the third for St. Louis as he hit a solo homer into the Cardinals bullpen in left to up the margin to 5-2.

Grichuk had an RBI double in the fifth for the Cardinals, who took a 6-2 lead.

Gonzalez, who gave up seven runs in his last start, was knocked out of the game by the Grichuk hit. The lefty allowed six hits and six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Wainwright entered the game with a 5.77 ERA but was 4-0 in his previous six starts.

NOTES: Cardinals INF Matt Carpenter was activated from the MLB paternity list Saturday and was in the starting lineup at first base. He is hitting .250 with nine home runs and 32 RBIs. ... SS Ruben Tejada was designated for assignment as he hit .176 in 34 at-bats after he was released by the New York Mets in March. ... Greg Garcia, who was called up Thursday from Triple-A Memphis when Carpenter went to be with his wife, started at third base Saturday. Garcia entered Saturday hitting .615 in 13 at-bats. ... Washington RHP Stephen Strasburg (8-0, 2.79) faces St. Louis RHP Michael Wacha (2-5, 5.04) in the series finale Sunday. ... St. Louis backup C Eric Fryer had a .476 average in 21 trips to the plate. ... Cardinals manager Mike Matheny earned his 400th win with the 6-2 victory Friday over Washington.