ST. LOUIS -- It was that kind of night.

The kind of night when every starter leaves the stadium with a hit -- including the pitcher -- and five do so with multiple knocks; the kind of night when your big boppers all go yard, your pinch-hitter gets two at-bats in an inning; a night when your offense induces a position player onto the mound, when errors kick-start rallies and broken bats fall for hits and slumps subside in big ways.

It was the kind of night when the Cardinals could coast to victory, riding a nine-run fifth inning en route to a 14-3 trouncing of the Nationals on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.

“That's really, effectively, exactly how we expect to compete offensively,” said manager Mike Shildt.

As part of that frame, 14 Cardinals went up to bat, three took a walk, Justin Williams collected three RBIs with two singles and not one of the nine base knocks went for extra bases. What’s more, those who recorded the first two outs did so while driving in a run.

“It's exactly what we're expecting out of [the offense],” Shildt said. “That's a very broad way of being able to compete regardless of situation. You saw everything that we want out of the offense tonight.”

The nine-spot was the highest single-inning output from the Cardinals since July 24, 2019, when they did the same in Pittsburgh.

Truth be told, it wasn’t an inning of necessity. The Cardinals were already up 5-1 by the time the blowout was a full-go, operating with relative ease thanks to five one-run frames from Jack Flaherty, while home runs from Paul Goldschmidt -- the 250th of his career -- and Nolan Arenado opened the St. Louis scoring against Stephen Strasburg.

How many times might that duo homer in the same game this season?

“Hopefully,” Goldschmidt said, “we can do that often this year.”

But their long balls merely set the stage for one of more ceremony.

Matt Carpenter -- about whom Goldschmidt said he has not “seen some bad luck like this my entire life” -- laid down hit No. 1 of 2021 on Monday, a bunt against the shift that landed four feet from home plate. Hit No. 2, on Tuesday, traveled 384 feet farther, towering into the sky but appearing to drift foul into the right-field corner.

“Oh gosh,” Shildt said, “it's just like, ‘Just stay fair. Please, just stay fair.’”

“I’m doing my inner Carlton Fisk trying to keep that ball fair as best I could,” Carpenter said.

It did, doinking off the foul pole. The 12,714 at Busch Stadium erupted for their franchise mainstay of 11 years. Carpenter obliged with a curtain call.

“It certainly feels good,” Carpenter said. “You know, not having a ton of success and coming off of a couple tough years in a row, to be able to have a moment like that is certainly a good feeling.”

It was part of the good feelings all around St. Louis on Tuesday night. The big boppers blasted off, the ace in Flaherty continued to display a return to form -- though more work is needed on both pitch counts and fastball command, he said -- and the bottom half of the lineup added piled on: Williams notching his first three career RBIs across two hits off a lefty, Dylan Carlson with his first multi-hit game of the season and catcher Andrew Knizner going 1-for-3 with a pair of walks in his first start of the season.

In short, it was a night in which the Cardinals’ offense performed at its peak, something that has been far and few between now 11 games into the 2021 season.

“A lot of positives from our team,” Goldschmidt said, “and if you do that, you're going to find a way to score.”