The St. Louis Cardinals took the commanding 2-1 lead in the best of five NLDS after shutting out the Washington Nationals 8-0 on Wednesday afternoon.

The big blow of the game, a three-run home run by Pete Kozma in the second inning.

Just as Bob Costas was admiring Kozma's play in the postseason after taking over for an injured Rafael Furcal, he yanked a pitch to left field, giving the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.

Edwin Jackson struggled early on in the game.

He went five innings giving up eight hits and four earned runs. Jackson allowed strings of hits, which gave the Cardinals.

Chris Carpenter was clutch despite allowing at least a runner on in every inning pitched. He went 5.2 with seven hits, two walks, two strikeouts, but no runs allowed.

Carpenter also did it at the plate. He did not drive in a run or score a run, but he went 2-3 with a single and a double.

Carpenter joined John Jay, Carlons Beltran, Matt Holliday and David Freese as the Cardinals with two hits in the game.

Beltran continues to perform in the postseason and Freese continues to be clutch.

Jay scored two runs, the last coming in the top of the eighth to finish breaking the game open for the Cardinals as they plated two runs and went up 8-0.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the Cardinals will have a chance to put the series away and advance to the NLCS.

Kyle Lohse will face Ross Detwiler in Game 4.