Solís got ahead of Molina, but was unable to finish him off

Left-hander Sammy Solís came into this season as healthy as he has felt in some time. But April was not that good a month, as he struggled to a 0-1 record and a 5.59 ERA.

May was much better, as he worked well in 15 games to a 1-0 record and a 2.61 ERA.

But June (6.14 ERA) was rough, and then July (8.10 ERA) and August (0-1, 9.00 ERA) got worse.

Due to his erratic outings and an inability to get that clutch out, Solis went up and down to Triple-A Syracuse twice this season: June 30 to July 22 and Aug. 14 to Aug. 31.

He returned to the Nationals in September and came into the ninth inning Tuesday night with his team down 7-5 to the Cardinals.

Solís walked Matt Carpenter to begin the inning and allowed a bunt single to Yairo Muñoz. The play might have been averted had Wilmer Difo been able to get over to cover first base.

Solís regrouped and struck out José Martínez and got Marcell Ozuna to ground out to third. Suddenly, he had a shot to get out of the frame unscathed.

But he hit Paul DeJong on the foot with a pitch to load the bases.

Solís worked Yadier Molina to an 0-2 count. But in his attempt to go up high on Molina, the veteran catcher unloaded on the pitch and drove it over the left field wall for his sixth career grand slam.

Suddenly, a fairly close game turned into an 11-5 St. Louis lead. The Cardinals held on for an 11-8 victory over the Nationals.

"Thought the approach was good," Solís said. "(Matt) Wieters came out before to talk it over and knew he was looking for a heater first pitch, so went change up. I got him to foul it off. We got ahead 0-2. With a hitter like him, I didn't want him to shoot me the other way, which is kind of his approach as of late with lefties.

"So went hard inside, actually hit my spot. I went back and looked at it. It was the pitch I wanted to make. I mean, as hard as it is you got to tip your cap sometimes. Breaks are hard to come by right now. But just got to keep going. Just keep pitching."

Manager Davey Martinez said he saw some alterations he would like Solís to change to prevent these unraveling innings to occur.

"For me, it's a couple of things. I'm going to talk to him tomorrow," Martinez said. "I need to talk to him tomorrow. He's got good stuff but he needs to start making some adjustments. But a lot of times he falls behind. His breaking ball, just - he has a good fastball. When he throws his fastball over the plate, they swing and miss."

Martinez looked back on the inning and pointed to the Muñoz at-bat as a critical one. He felt that with a cover of first base by Difo on the bunt single attempt, Solís would have been able to record three outs in a row.

Solís went high with the third pitch, but maybe not high enough. The pitch stayed in the strike zone for Molina and he crushed it.

"Today, Yadi hit a ball that was over his head," Martinez said. "And he shouldn't have even have been in that situation, really. If you think about it, he's out of the inning if Difo covers first base on the bunt. That's honestly, that's how it's going. I sat there and I said, 'Difo covers, inning over, here we go.' "

After the game, Solís was left to try to figure out what has happened over his last few games. He has allowed at least two hits and a run in three of his last four games.

What can he do? What can he change?

"That's a tough one, but there's really no alternative," Solís said. "What am I going to do, give up on my teammates? Just keep grinding. Keep going through the process I've had my whole career of just working hard and trusting myself. I know my teammates trust in my abilities. So just go out and keep pitching - that's really all I can do."