The Washington Nationals rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies last night in Coors Field, but in the sixth inning of the game, 29-year-old third baseman Ryan Zimmerman suffered a hamstring injury while hustling to first in an attempt to avoid a double play on a grounder to short. Zimmerman beat the throw to first base, but collapsed as he crossed the bag and stayed down as team trainer Lee Kuntz and Nats' skipper Matt Williams came out to check on the veteran infielder.
Zimmerman limped off the field with some assistance.
Williams talked to reporters after the game about the initial diagnosis.
"He's got a right hamstring strain," Williams said. "We're going to have an MRI in the morning and see the severity of it. It's pretty sore tonight. So we'll get the MRI, get some results tomorrow and see where we're at."
The injury is a particularly frustrating one for Zimmerman, who has been on a tear at the plate so far this month after a relatively slow June upon returning from close to two months on the DL after suffering a fractured right thumb diving headfirst back into second base on a pick attempt in Turner Field in April.
In 16 games this month, after going 0 for 3 last night night, the Nationals' infielder was 21 for 58 (.362/.418/.569) with six doubles and two home runs before he suffered the injury.
"Swinging great, playing great," Williams said. "But we'll have to deal with it and see where we're at tomorrow and make the correct decision. And regardless, we'll still have to play. So we'll see how he feels tomorrow and see what the doctors say and go from there."
"It's concerning," Williams admitted when asked about his level of concern. "Any time you've got leave them game with a hamstring injury it's concerning. But we don't know until we get a picture of it and we'll do that in the morning."
The first-year skipper said they would discuss the possibility of a call-up once they know more about the severity of the issue.
"We'll talk about it tonight heading back to the hotel," he told reporters, "but as of now we've got to see what it is. We had this situation with Wilson [Ramos] earlier where he could have played in three or four days, but we have to see what the picture tells us first and we'll go from there."
• We talked about Ryan Zimmerman's injury, the Nationals' win and more on the latest edition of Nats Nightly: