WASHINGTON -- Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore was not happy with teammate Victor Robles' effort on a single to center field by Cardinals left fielder Jordan Walker in second inning of St. Louis' 9-3 victory over Washington on Tuesday at Nats Park.

Robles appeared to have a chance at catching a line drive off Walker's bat but let the ball drop in front of him for a base hit.

Dylan Carlson followed with a two-run homer over the center-field wall that staked the Cardinals to a 2-0 lead. MASN picked up the verbal exchange between Gore and Robles in the dugout after the inning concluded.

"They talked about it. We talked about it. It's good. It happens," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "We are trying to compete. It happens. I just wanted to make sure that nothing was going to go crazy there in the dugout, so I just got in between them. It was good. Few words were said, and then it was done.

"Obviously, MacKenzie thought he should have caught the ball. I thought he should have caught the ball, but it was windy. I think he thought he was going to catch it easy, and the ball just died on him and he couldn't get there."

Gore allowed five runs on nine hits over six innings to take the loss and fall to 3-6. The Nationals have lost five in a row and 13 of their last 15 games.

"Look, Vic's a great outfielder," Gore said. "You all know better than I do, been watching him for a long time. We talked about it. We are good. It's over with. He had two hits tonight and made plays after that, so. Tough spot.

"Felt like we needed to talk, and we did and we moved on and we're good."