A chance to sleep and regroup was given to the Reds after their game Wednesday was suspended by rain. Mired in a three-run deficit to the Nationals before the bottom of the fourth inning when play was halted, they weren’t able to hold down Washington enough after play resumed Thursday afternoon, taking a 5-3 loss.

• Box score

The 3-0 deficit stretched to 5-0 for Cincinnati in the sixth inning at Nationals Park. Ryan Hendrix gave up a one-out triple to pinch-hitter Luis García, followed by Trea Turner’s RBI single. Ashton Goudeau was on the mound when Josh Bell drove in Turner with a soft rolling single into right-center field.

Cincinnati had a few shots at getting back into the game and nearly came all the way back.

“We put some good at-bats together there in the eighth and just couldn’t get anything going in the ninth,” catcher Tucker Barnhart said.

In the top of the eighth, reliever Tanner Rainey couldn’t retire a batter as the Reds percolated with three straight singles to open the inning. That included Nick Castellanos’ RBI single that extended his hitting streak to 13 games. Against Daniel Hudson, Tyler Naquin kept the pressure on with a bloop single to center field.

With one out in the eighth against Hudson, Barnhart worked a full count before delivering an RBI single to put the tying run on first base. Kyle Farmer added a sacrifice fly for the rally’s third run. Runners were left on the corners when Hudson struck out Jonathan India with a fastball up and in.

“Whenever you’ve got the bases loaded with one out, you like your chances, no matter what the score is, at least to kind of string a couple of runs together or good at-bats together that hopefully end up with positive outcomes,” Barnhart said. “Daniel Hudson is one of the better back-end-of-the bullpen arms in the game. To be able to scratch a couple or a few across was big.”

In the ninth inning with two outs, Jesse Winker notched his fourth hit of the game with a broken-bat single that just missed being caught by Turner at shortstop. Representing the tying run, Castellanos scorched a 102.9 mph rocket to third base. Starlin Castro snagged the grounder and threw to second base for the game-ending force play.

“Our bullpen did a nice job to keep us in the game right there,” Reds manager David Bell said. “We took a shot at it and got the tying run to the plate. Nick hit the ball hard right to the third baseman.”

The Reds were given little time to dwell on the loss as they have the odd situation of having to play 2 1/2 games over a 24-hour period. Following Thursday night’s regularly scheduled game, they have an afternoon game at Chicago when a three-game series opens Friday vs. the Cubs.