When the first Nationals homestand of the season opened Friday afternoon against the Los Angeles Dodgers, it unfolded rather predictably. Baseball’s richest team scored early, scored late and scored a lot in between during a comfortable win at Nationals Park.

When the Nationals’ six-game homestand started to wind down Wednesday evening, a third straight series loss on the horizon, there was already an air of resignation to the proceedings. The Cardinals had chased Washington’s starter early. The Nationals’ offense was struggling. Their besieged bullpen was left to carry them to the finish line.

Yes, the Nationals’ eventual 6-1 loss to St. Louis, the club’s seventh defeat in the past eight games, could have gone a lot worse. But it nonetheless represented a missed opportunity in a season whose vibes have changed drastically in the past week.

There was no shame in dropping a series to the defending World Series champion Dodgers and their nearly $400 million payroll, just as there’d been no shame in leaving a competitive series against the Philadelphia Phillies with just one win. But there could be misgivings about losing a rubber match to the considerably less expensive Cardinals (7-5) and wasting one of the bullpen’s better stretches.

The Nationals (4-8) will head to Milwaukee for a weekend series after an uncharacteristically quiet day. They finished with just four hits, drew just one walk and got just one runner into scoring position after the third inning.

Washington starter Mike Mikolas took the mound Wednesday with some comfort in knowing that, after his last start, the only way was up. In a 13-6 loss Friday to the Dodgers, he allowed a career-worst 11 runs, the most ever by a Nationals pitcher in a single game. His ERA more than doubled over those 4 1/3 innings, to 14.46.

“I don’t think he was happy with his last outing,” manager Blake Butera said before the game, “so I think there’s some adjustments that he’s working on making.”

Butera said he hoped Mikolas would pound the strike zone and draw weak contact. Most important, he hoped the 37-year-old would give the Nationals a “chance to get deep into the game.” There was familiarity with St. Louis; five batters in the Cardinals’ starting lineup also started in Mikolas’ final appearance for the club last September.

But Mikolas (0-3) lasted just three innings, the shortest outing by a Nationals starter this season. He loaded the bases in the first, got out of trouble, loaded the bases again in the second, allowed a two-RBI single to first baseman Alec Burleson, got a mound visit from pitching coach Simon Mathews, then averted further damage.

Not even a scoreless, 14-pitch third inning could extend his day. Brad Lord was already warming in the bullpen. In the fourth inning, he inherited the 2-1 deficit, the first of four relievers to jog to the mound. Lord and Cionel Pérez combined to allow just two earned runs over four innings. Cole Henry nearly kept the Nationals within reach until fading in the ninth inning, when he allowed two more runs and the deficit grew to five.

Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy (1-1), meanwhile, was mostly unbothered. The right-hander held a Nationals attack that had scored 15 runs over the first two games to one earned run and four hits in six innings. Washington, one of baseball’s best fastball-hitting teams, managed just two hits against a four-seamer that averaged 90.4 mph. At one point, McGreevy retired 11 Nationals in a row.

This article will be updated.