WASHINGTON – Ramon Ortiz came within three outs of pitching the majors’ first no-hitter in more than two years and the Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1.

Ortiz, who homered in the eighth inning to put the Nationals up 3-0, began the ninth against Aaron Miles. With the crowd cheering on the right-hander, Miles lined the second pitch into center field for a clean single.

The 33-year-old from the Dominican Republic was bidding to become the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Randy Johnson’s perfect game for the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 18, 2004.

After a double play, Ortiz gave up Albert Pujols’ 43rd homer of the season – the slugger’s fourth homer in two days.

After the homer to upper deck in left, Ortiz was pulled to a standing ovation by the crowd of about 30,000.

Chad Cordero came on and got the final out.

Before the ninth, Ortiz gave up only three baserunners – all walks. The closest the Cardinals came to a hit was a sinking liner to right by John Rodriguez with one out in the fifth. Ortiz was bidding to throw the first no-hitter for the franchise since Dennis Martinez pitched a perfect game on July 28, 1991 for the Montreal Expos against Los Angeles.

The victory was the Nationals’ fifth straight.

Ortiz (10-12) certainly wasn’t a likely candidate for a no-hitter. He had been 0-3 with a 11.43 ERA in his last four starts. He hadn’t lasted more than seven innings all season because of his consistent high pitch-counts – he threw 111 pitches in only 4 2-3 innings against Atlanta earlier this month.

In addition, the Nationals starters have been dreadful recently, losing eight straight decisions and going 1-9 with a 9.13 ERA over the last 16 games.

The Nationals took a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning on Austin Kearns’ two-run homer off Jason Marquis (14-13).

Marquis gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out four.

Ortiz greeted reliever Jorge Sosa in the eighth inning with a homer to left that made it 3-0. Nick Johnson added an RBI double later that inning.

Notes: St. Louis CF Juan Encarnacion sat out with a sore hip. John Rodriguez started in right field, with Preston Wilson moving to center. … Pujols homered in his first three at-bats on Sunday.

AP-ES-09-04-06 1534EDT