WASHINGTON -- Every time Juan Soto takes a pitch, he lunges forward in the batter’s box to psych out the opposing pitcher -- a routine the Nationals have dubbed the “Soto Shuffle.” On Monday night, Washington's star left fielder unintentionally introduced the Soto Stumble.

With two on and one out in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Nationals Park, Soto jumped, slipped, fell and allowed the Cardinals to finally push a run across the plate against starter Stephen Strasburg.

It was the only run St. Louis scored in an 8-1 loss that has the club on the brink of elimination.

Cardinals right fielder José Martínez led off the seventh with a single to left. He moved to second on Yadier Molina’s single, then stopped at third base after Paul DeJong hit a line drive to left. Soto cleanly fielded the ball on the run and skipped toward the infield to start his throwing motion. Soto left his feet, then lost his footing when he landed, collapsing onto his left side.

After his stumble, Soto tried to recover by making a rushed throw from his knees that even his teammates didn’t seem to expect. The ball sailed over shortstop Trea Turner, skipped by first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, slowly rolled by an unsuspecting Strasburg and finally settled into catcher Kurt Suzuki’s glove in foul territory near Washington’s dugout.

That gave Martínez plenty of time to scramble home and break up the Nats’ bid for a second shutout in the NLCS.

Twenty-seven innings into this series, the Cardinals have scored two runs, and both were the direct result of a defensive miscue by the Nationals. In Game 2, center fielder Michael A. Taylor misread a Martínez line drive that turned into an RBI double off left-hander Sean Doolittle.

“You play these guys, with that pitching, you’re going to be in for typically a low-scoring situation,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “But I’ve got to say this: as we tip our hat, we’ve also got to say that we didn’t expect to have scored two runs in three games by any stretch of the imagination.”