Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday homered while Jaime Garcia tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings as the St. Louis Cardinals stopped a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Holliday and Jon Jay added RBI singles for the Cardinals, who had dropped eight of their previous 11 games.

One day after becoming the third-youngest player in major league history to reach the 400-homer plateau, Pujols gave Garcia an early lead with his 401st career blast and National League-leading 35th of the year - a solo shot with two outs in the first inning.

A pair of errors by Washington in the third led to two unearned runs for St. Louis, and Holliday belted a solo homer - his 23rd of the season - in the eighth for a 4-0 bulge.

Garcia (12-6) worked in and out of trouble in his first career start against the Nationals, allowing eight hits and walking four, but extended his scoreless streak to 17 1/3 innings. The 24-year old left-hander, who struck out seven, has not allowed an earned run in his last 20 1/3 frames.

Three relievers bridged the gap to Ryan Franklin, who allowed a run in the ninth and put the tying run on base before notching his 22nd save in 24 opportunities.

Scott Olsen (3-7) was saddled with his fifth consecutive loss after yielding three runs - one earned - and five hits in six innings. The southpaw, who fell to 1-5 lifetime against the Cardinals, walked one and struck out five.

Pinch-hitter Willie Harris homered and Ian Desmond collected three hits and scored a run for Washington, which has lost 14 of 19.