Bats silent, Castro hurt as Nats lose suspended game (updated)

BALTIMORE - The Nationals took the field late this afternoon at Camden Yards, the first team to take the field despite the fact this is not their home, and set about to correct what went wrong Sunday at Nationals Park, when a malfunctioning tarp forced the suspension of their game with the Orioles, who led 5-2 at the time.

When this resumed game finally ended today, they had done nothing to correct their mistakes from Sunday. If anything, they raised more questions in this 6-2 loss that precedes the regularly scheduled game still to come here this evening.

Unable to rally against the Orioles bullpen, the Nationals dropped their third straight to their rebuilding geographic rivals, with three more full games to play this weekend. They fell to 6-10, and they lost a key veteran in the process.

Starlin Castro opened the afternoon at second base but was replaced in the bottom of the seventh after injuring his right wrist trying to make a play in the field the previous inning. About 40 minutes after the game ended, the Nationals announced the wrist is broken and he's been placed on the 10-day injured list.

Luis García, the organization's 20-year-old middle infield prospect, has been promoted off the taxi squad and will start at second base in tonight's game.

It was a flurry of activity at the end of the first of two scheduled games here tonight, the first one not going as the Nats would have liked.

It took 5 days, 2 hours and 48 minutes, but the game finally resumed this afternoon, 38 miles up the road from Nationals Park, with the Nats in their navy blue jerseys and home white pants and the Orioles in their full gray uniforms. The artificial crowd, however, still rooted for Baltimore.

"It felt a little strange," Martinez said in his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "We're in a visiting ballpark but with a white uniform on. It was different. We got to hit last, so that was different. But we're still playing baseball. We've got to move on now, get ready for the next game."

Sam Freeman had been on the mound with two on and one out in the top of the sixth when Sunday's downpour began, but because the left-hander has since gone on the injured list with a potentially serious elbow or forearm injury he needed to be replaced.

Enter Kyle Finnegan, tasked with pitching out of a jam without any opportunity to get a feel for the game. All things considered, Finnegan did well. He retired five of six batters faced, struck out three and allowed only an infield single made possible by the Nationals' infield shift. But that was still enough to push an insurance run across the plate and pad the Orioles lead to 6-2.

With only 12 outs available to mount a comeback, the Nationals didn't mount much of a charge. They went down quietly in the sixth, then made two quick outs in the seventh before Trea Turner and Adam Eaton drew back-to-back walks.

Castro was due to bat, but instead Wilmer Difo stepped to the plate in his stead, a sign Castro was hurt trying to make that play that resulted in the tack-on run. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde counted with left-hander Tanner Scott, and eyes turned to the Nationals dugout to see if Davey Martinez might turn to either Howie Kendrick or Josh Harrison, both available on the bench.

Neither guy emerged, only Difo, now swinging from the right side of the plate. He was quickly overwhelmed by Scott and struck out, stranding two on base and Juan Soto in the on-deck circle.

Eric Thames also got two at-bats against lefties and struck out in each, leaving him 0-for-4 with four strikeouts against southpaws this season.

"I want to save our best option for either a tie or a win," Martinez said when asked about Difo batting instead of Kendrick. "I think Howie is our best option. Two outs at that point, I feel like to wait, we had a few more innings, we get something, wecan call up Howie and hit for (Difo) or hit later on for somebody else. Howie would've been the guy for that."

And sure enough, Kendrick appeared in the on-deck circle to bat for Difo in the bottom of the ninth. Alas, the game ended before he could step to the plate.

One bright side: Dakota Bacus impressed in his long-awaited major league debut. The 29-year-old reliever, called up from the alternate training site in Fredericksburg this afternoon, retired all six batters he faced, recording five groundouts and a strikeout to add one positive note to an otherwise disappointing game.

"He threw the ball really well," Martinez said. "He got some outs for us. It was good to see. He looked good."