Candelario injures thumb before game suspended by rain (updated)

ST. LOUIS – The skies above Busch Stadium opened up in the bottom of the third inning tonight and did not let up enough at any point to allow the Nationals and Cardinals to resume the opener of their weekend series.

They’ll have to pick things up from this point, with a 3-2 count on Paul Goldschmidt, two outs and a runner on first with St. Louis leading 1-0, at 2:15 p.m. Eastern Saturday before playing the originally scheduled 7:15 p.m. game.

The Nationals can only hope Jeimer Candelario feels well enough to play by then, even though he won’t be eligible to finish the suspended game after he departed with a right thumb injury following his first at-bat.

Candelario saw nine pitches from Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas in the top of the first, battling through the first eight before taking an awkward swing at a slow curveball on the final pitch. He then looked uncomfortable as he jogged back to the dugout with the third out of the inning.

When the bottom of the first arrived, it was Ildemaro Vargas at third base, not Candelario.

Manager Davey Martinez revealed afterward Candelario had suffered a bone bruise in his right thumb, the result of a batted ball skipping up and catching him on the hand during a pregame defensive drill. Candelario tried to play through it but realized as his at-bat progressed he wouldn't be able to pull it off.

"He's out of the first game, obviously," Martinez said. "We'll see how he feels for the second game."

"Hopefully we can be there tomorrow. Please, god," Candelario said, holding his arms out and looking to the sky. "Because I'm feeling really good and want to get going this second half."

If Candelario is more seriously hurt, it could throw a major wrench into Mike Rizzo’s trade deadline plans. The 29-year-old is the Nats’ most tradeable piece right now heading into the Aug. 1 deadline, under contract only through the remainder of the season and owed less than $2.5 million the rest of the way.

The market for third basemen isn’t especially strong, but Candelario is a quality, affordable player who entered tonight batting .261 with 27 doubles, 13 homers, 43 RBIs, a .337 on-base percentage and .815 OPS. His 2.6 fWAR also happens to be best among all National League third basemen.

Candelario was one of nine Nationals batters who faced Mikolas before the rain delay, not one of them successfully reaching base against the crafty right-hander. Dominic Smith hit a drive to the warning track in left that was caught, but otherwise there was little solid contact, not to mention a couple of strikeouts (Candelario and Alex Call).

Trevor Williams was arguably more dominant, striking out five batters in 2 2/3 innings of work. But the Nationals starter did serve up a solo homer to Lars Nootbaar with two outs in the bottom of the first, accounting for the lone run of the game.

"Good stuff," Martinez said. "Good two-seamer. His slider was really good today. It's a shame. The rain got him again. But he's been throwing the ball really well for us."

Williams allowed only one other batter to reach, plunking Brendan Donovan with two outs in the third to bring Goldschmidt to the plate. That at-bat lasted six pitches, the count running full, before the skies opened. With lightning also in the vicinity, crew chief Bill Miller instructed players from both teams to leave the field as the grounds crew raced to get the infield covered before it got soaked.

They proceeded to wait approximately 90 minutes before finally making the announcement the game was being suspended, set to resume Saturday afternoon.

The Nationals will have someone else on the mound at that point, most likely one of the three long relievers currently in their bullpen (Paolo Espino, Cory Abbott, Joan Adon). They'll also have to have someone other than Candelario at third base, with Vargas likely to just finish out that game before the club figures out how to proceed in the nightcap.