As expected, Luis Garcia was not in the Washington Nationals’ lineup in Saturday’s 7-6 win over the Colorado Rockies after suffering a hamstring injury in Friday’s victory. Michael Chavis started at second base over Garcia on Saturday.
However, manager Davey Martinez says that he is not concerned. At least that is his public stance.
“Everything seems to be fine,” the skipper said ahead of Saturday’s game. “This is going to be a day-to-day thing.”
After postgame tests Friday night showed there were no issues with Garcia’s hamstring, the 22-year-old went through agility drills today. His leg still felt sore though, so Martinez kept the left-handed bat out of the lineup in favor of right-handed bat Michael Chavis against Rockies lefty Austin Gomber.
“He feels a little better. He’s still a little sore,” Martinez said. “So the smart thing to do is to give him a day and see how he feels throughout the day … We want to make sure moving forward it doesn’t become a bigger problem.”
Paolo Espino has been placed on Triple-A Rochester’s 7-day injured list.
After pitching just two innings Tuesday against Syracuse, the right-hander suffered an undisclosed injury before being placed on the IL retroactive to April 5.
“They thought the best thing to do was put him on the IL,” Martinez said. “Hopefully it’s not a big issue, and hopefully he comes back soon.”
Espino, 36, has spent parts of the past three seasons in the Nats pitching staff but failed to make the Opening Day roster in spring training. The righty slated a 4.56 ERA through 79 outings (39 starts) across his three seasons, including a 4.84 ERA in 42 appearances (19 starts) in 2022.
There are no updates on the other players on the IL including outfielder Corey Dickerson. After seeing Alex Call and Stone Garrett getting starts, the team certainly won’t be pushing Dickerson to hurry back given the high level of production from the bench bats.
