Although the offense couldn’t provide what the Cardinals wanted for Leake, the righthander provided what the Cardinals needed. Leake (3-4) gave the Cardinals their first quality start since the last time he pitched for them, this past Saturday, and shouldered seven innings and preserved the spent bullpen for another night. Leake needed only 67 pitches to get through five scoreless innings, and he had permitted the Nationals only three hits — all singles — before Harper connected in the sixth.

“We needed a solid start and he gave it to us,” manager Mike Matheny said. “We just had trouble making anything happen offensively. We needed a long start for the bullpen. We needed one for the confidence of our starting staff. We needed someone to get in there and have a quality start for us.”

That’s all Leake has done since the second week of May.