Jayson Werth makes a leaping catch to rob the St. Louis Cardinals of a home run in the sixth inning. (Photo by Thomas Cizauskas)

Of course the Washington Nationals couldn’t deliver an easy, comfortable entry into the playoffs. But what’s a crucial Nationals game without a few cardiac moments, anyway?

Gio Gonzalez, coming off a 21-8 season in which he pulled the Nationals through plenty of tight spots, issued seven walks in five innings. The St. Louis Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright, meanwhile, was in control, striking out 10 in five and two-thirds innings.

Washington chipped together the game’s first run when Kurt Suzuki singled home Adam LaRoche and pushed Ian Desmond to second. With two outs, Wainwright then walked Gonzalez, bringing up Jayson Werth with the bases loaded and an opportunity to blow the game open early. But Wainwright induced an easy ground ball. A similar scene played out a few innings later, when Werth ended a frame with a bases-loaded strikeout.

Though the Nationals were able to pick at Wainwright’s pitching and get plenty of base-runners, moving them home was a struggle. The Cardinals, meanwhile, counted on Gonzalez’s mishaps to get their runners across the plate.

In the bottom of the second, Gonzalez walked the bases loaded. A wild pitch to Wainwright, no less, allowed the Cardinals to tie the game; they went ahead on a sacrifice fly.

Craig Stammen, who replaced Gonzalez in the bottom of the sixth inning, was hardly more reassuring. After St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina flied out, Stammen gave up a single to David Freese. Daniel Descalo came up next, and belted a pitch toward the right field wall.

For a moment, the game seemed lost. The Nationals were struggling to manufacture runs and Descalo hit what appeared to be a home run that would have put the Cardinals up by three runs. Instead, Werth, who the inning before had left the bases loaded, redeemed himself by leaping up and snagging the ball before it could clear the fence.

Still, the Nationals remained behind. The eighth inning began with another hopeful rally. Michael Morse reached first on an error; Desmond singled and pushed Morse to third. Danny Espinosa laid down a well-executed sacrifice bunt, allowing Desmond to get into scoring position. But Suzuki’s strikeout put yet another scoring chance in jeopardy of fizzling out.

Nationals Manager Davey Johnson’s first plan was to send the left-hander Chad Tracy to pinch hit. The Cardinals countered with left-handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski. Johnson replaced Tracy with the right-handed rookie Tyler Moore. It paid off. The 25-year-old from Brandon, Miss. roped a single to right field, bringing home Morse and Desmond and giving the Nationals a 3-2 lead.

Despite one more cardiac moment from Tyler Clippard in the eighth inning, Drew Storen’s ninth inning appearance was nice and easy. After an afternoon of heart attacks in St. Louis, a one-two-three save was exactly the salve Nationals fans back home needed.

“I don’t really know how we won that game, to be honest,” Stammen told the Post. To be fair, neither did a lot of Nationals watchers.