The St Louis Cardinals bullpen was still waterlogged after Saturday evening’s rain delay, allowing seven runs to the Washington Nationals in the sixth inning, sinking to a 14-3 loss at Busch Stadium.

The Nationals were already leading 2-0 when Chris Roycroft allowed three walks to load the bases, only claiming one out on a strikeout. Matthew Liberatore gave up RBI hits to Harold Ramirez and Juan Yepez, then a home run Keibert Ruiz before recording the final two outs of the inning. The Nationals would add insult to injury by scoring one run in the seventh and four more in the ninth. The Cardinals were only able to plate runs off a Willson Contreras home run in the sixth and an RBI single from Matt Carpenter in the eighth.

Starter Kyle Gibson allowed RBI singles to Luis Garcia Jr in the second and Jesse Winker in the third to take the loss. He allowed six hits and three walks in five innings of work.

The Cardinals have now dropped three straight and find themselves two games behind the Mets in the wild card standings. Their 53-51 record has them six games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Redbirds will look to avoid the sweep Sunday afternoon, with first pitch at 1:15.