MLB National League 2013 Wild Card Standings & Race: St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves Clinch Playoff Spots With Washington Nationals Loss

The Washington Nationals' playoff hopes took a big hit today after splitting a double-header with the Florida Marlins on Sunday, falling back five games to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, who are holding on to the second National League (NL) wild-card position.

Saturday night's game was canceled after a four hour rain delay, forcing a double-header for Sunday. In Game 1 of the double-header, Nationals pitcher Dan Haren (9-4) allowed two home runs and three runs in the sixth inning. The Atlanta Braves clinched the NL East division title, with the Nationals 4-2 day-game loss to Florida.

"Like I said before, I'm not very good at math, but I'm good enough to figure out that losing makes it tougher," said Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. "But we've just got to keep playing and see what happens."

The Nationals bounced back in Game 2, in Davey Johnson's last game at home as manager of the Nationals, winning the nightcap 5-4 after Nationals C Wilson Ramos bounced a grounder off Marlins third baseman Chris Coghlan's leg for an error that allowed pinch-runner Eury Perez to score to end the game.

"We aren't finished. I take nothing for granted," said Johnson. "I still think we got a good shot. We need to win them all. We do. Hey, I've been one strike, two runs down, one strike away, and we've come back. So don't lose the faith."

With six games left, the Nationals still have shot at catching the Pittsburgh Pirates, who fell into a tie with the Cincinnati Reds for the AL Wild-card lead. The Reds pounded the Pirates 11-3 Sunday afternoon, after Jeff Locke (10-7) allowed five earned runs in two innings.

The Reds and Pirates both have magic numbers of two to eliminate the Nationals from playoff contention and trail NL Central leader St. Louis Cardinals by 2 ½ games.

The Cardinals clinched a playoff berth with the Nationals day-game loss to the Marlins but lost 6-4 to the Milwaukee Brewers Sunday night.