ST. LOUIS – Under the circumstances, Davey Martinez had to do what he had to do earlier in the day. His Nationals had a chance to win the completion of Friday night’s suspended game, so he used all of his top relievers to make sure his team did ultimately prevail in extra innings over the Cardinals.

The danger in going for it this afternoon, of course, was leaving the bullpen without those top arms tonight. And the Nats paid the price for it.

A trio of secondary relievers gave up four runs in the span of two innings, turning a tie game into a 9-6 loss to cap a long day of baseball in downtown St. Louis that featured yet another rain delay.

After Jake Irvin lasted only three innings in a laborious start, Martinez turned to rookies Amos Willingham and Jose A. Ferrer, then veteran Paolo Espino to keep the game within reach. They couldn’t do it, with Willingham and Ferrer combining to allow three runs in the fifth and then Espino allowing one in the sixth and then another tack-on run in the eighth.

The Nationals wound up splitting the doubleheader and will need to win Sunday’s finale to emerge with their fifth series win in their last six tries. Tonight’s loss prevented them from pulling off their first four-game winning streak since June 27-30, 2021.

After spending the majority of the season to date with zero left-handers in their bullpen, the Nationals are going to keep two for the time being after making another roster move today, but not the one that seemed the likeliest.

With Patrick Corbin returning from the bereavement list, the Nats placed Thaddeus Ward on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation, keeping both Jose A. Ferrer and Joe La Sorsa in a bullpen that suddenly includes two lefties.

Ferrer just made his major league debut Saturday after his promotion from Triple-A Rochester. The 23-year-old pitched a scoreless inning against the Phillies, then did it again during Sunday’s 5-4 victory. He’ll now get a chance to stay and prove he can enjoy continued success at this level.

“He’s throwing the ball well,” manager Davey Martinez said. “The biggest thing I like is he’s throwing strikes. It’s something I talked to him about when he got here: ‘It doesn’t matter how hard you throw, or what you throw. It’s about throwing strike one.’ And so far, he’s done that.”

La Sorsa, who made two appearances for the Rays earlier this season before the Nationals claimed him off waivers and called him up late last month, impressed in his first two outings but allowed four runs while facing only five batters during Saturday’s 19-4 loss in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals were riding high into Saturday’s late afternoon game against the Phillies.

One of their young starting pitchers tossed perhaps his best game as a major leaguer when Josiah Gray shoved for six innings of one-run ball in last night’s 2-1 win.

That set the Nats up today to win their third straight series and to do something they haven’t done since June 27-30, 2021: Have a winning streak longer than three games.

But that all came crashing down with today’s 19-4 thrashing by the Phillies, much to the delight of the 42,784 fans at Citizens Bank Park.

Score aside, the story of this one for the Nationals was MacKenize Gore’s early departure.

PHILADELPHIA – It was an easy move for the Nationals to make when they found out Patrick Corbin needed to go on the bereavement list for a family matter.

Corbin had just pitched a gem Wednesday in Seattle, leading the Nats to a 4-1 victory over the Mariners. His spot in the rotation won’t come up again until Tuesday against the Reds, so the Nats could add an arm to their bullpen for this weekend series against the Phillies.

Luck would have it Triple-A Rochester was playing a little over an hour away against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate. And with Jose A. Ferrer already on the 40-man roster, he could easily be activated to take Corbin’s spot on the active roster during the veteran starter’s time away from the team.

So it was that the Nats recalled Ferrer and had him meet the team in Philadelphia on Friday. After spending much of the season with no lefties in the bullpen, now Davey Martinez has two: Ferrer and Joe La Sorsa.

Ferrer flew up the Nats’ farm system last year. He went 3-2 with 11 saves, a 2.48 ERA, 0.995 WHIP, 78 strikeouts and just 11 walks in 65 ⅓ innings over 48 relief appearances between Single-A Fredericksburg, High-A Wilmington and Double-A Harrisburg last year. Among Nationals minor leaguers, the 23-year-old was third in saves and appearances.