Nats lose Hellickson to wrist injury, fall nine games back (updated)

ST. LOUIS - This isn't the Nationals' longest road trip of the season. It only feels like it.

And because of that, the 41 games that still remain on the schedule in 2018 are perilously close to losing all significance.

With a lackluster 4-2 loss at Busch Stadium tonight, the Nationals dropped their third straight to the Cardinals and fell to 1-5 on this season-defining trip through Chicago and St. Louis.

They are now, stunningly, the owners of a losing record at 60-61. And with the Braves having just swept a four-game series from the Marlins, the Nats now sit a staggering nine games back in the National League East.

"We're going to need a lot of help, that's for sure," Jeremy Hellickson said. "I was part of a team that came back from nine games in a month (the 2011 Rays). So still not over. But we've made it pretty tough on ourselves here."

Hellickson said this as he was flexing his right hand, his wrist sore and swollen after he was knocked over covering the plate on a wild pitch that also included an error on the catcher in the bottom of the fifth. Preliminary X-rays were negative, but the Nationals won't know if the right-hander will be able to make his next start until they see how the wrist responds in the next few days.

"We'll see how he feels tomorrow," manager Davey Martinez said. "But I just saw him right now and he says he's stiff."

Hellickson was up to his usual tricks for four innings, hardly looking dominant but nonetheless quite effective in retiring nine of the first 10 batters he faced. The one blemish was Marcell Ozuna's laser of a home run off a hanging curveball to open the bottom of the second, but thanks to some deft work pitching out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth, Hellickson was able to keep the deficit at 1-0.

But then came the bottom of the fifth. And with it, disaster. Hellickson was already in trouble after a leadoff double by No. 8 hitter Harrison Bader and a subsequent sacrifice bunt. The Nationals then elected to intentionally walk Matt Carpenter and give Hellickson a chance to get out of the jam by inducing a double-play grounder out of Yadier Molina.

The problem? Hellickson bounced a pitch in the dirt and it skipped away from Spencer Kieboom. Making matters worse, Kieboom's late throw back to the plate sailed away, allowing Carpenter to advance all the way to third. But making matters even worse than any of that, Hellickson tried to jump over the sliding Bader, and in attempting to brace himself as he fell wound up injuring his right wrist.

"It was one of those freak plays," Martinez said. "When I saw him land, I actually thought it looked a lot worse than the outcome. I thought he broke his wrist, but hopefully he's OK."

After a lengthy visit with a trainer, Hellickson returned to the mound and attempted two warm-up tosses. They didn't go well, and so he walked back to the dugout as Wander Suero entered from the bullpen inherit the remainder of the at-bat against Molina.

"My pinky was just tingly," Hellickson said. "It was just tough to grip."

Suero couldn't finish the job; Molina lined a 2-2 pitch to right field to bring home another run, the third charged to Hellickson in a game that was now slipping away.

The Nationals never did get much going offensively against Austin Gomber, the rookie left-hander who allowed one hit through his first four innings and departed without allowing any runs over six innings. The Nats had some chances, loading the bases in the fourth, putting runners on the corners in the fifth and getting a leadoff double in the sixth. But they went 0-for-5 with those runners in scoring position, striking out in four of the at-bats.

Even when things have looked bleak in the last week, Martinez could point to the lack of quit in his players. The Nationals always seemed to at least bring the tying run to the plate late in a loss. It didn't appear they'd be able to do that tonight, but Daniel Murphy's leadoff homer in the ninth and Michael A. Taylor's subsequent double set the stage for the possibility.

Taylor eventually scored on Matt Wieters' sacrifice fly, but that's as close as the Nats got. Once again, they showed some fight. And once again, they still lost.

"When you're in a playoff race, we have to score first," Martinez said. "We have to score early. We talk about that every day, about scoring first. And for our pitchers, keep us in the game. We were in the game until Helly got hurt. But we can't squander the opportunities that we get. We have to make those opportunities count."