Nationals' C Wilson Ramos leaves game with right hamstring tightness

Wilson Ramos doubled in his first at bat last night, but he was stranded at second base at the end of the second inning of the Washington Nationals' second game against the San Francisco Giants in AT&T Park.

The Nats' 26-year-old catcher grounded out to second base in his second at bat against Madison Bumgarner in the top of the fourth and then grounded out to short the third time he came up in the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Giants threatened to cut into the Nationals' 2-0 lead when Pablo Sandoval doubled on an 87 mph 0-2 fastball from Doug Fister in the first at bat of the frame, but two outs later he was still standing at second.

Giants' shortstop Brandon Crawford took a first-pitch fastball to right in his two-out at bat, however, and Sandoval rounded third and headed for home. Jayson Werth charged the low liner and scooped it up on the second hop before firing a throw in that skipped late and bounced right to Ramos who was waiting when Sandoval arrived at home.

San Francisco's third baseman tried to avoid the tag and bounced on his left knee more than he slid past home.

"Werth made a great throw there," Giants' skipper Bruce Bochy said after what ended up a 2-1 loss for the Giants.

Ramos applied the tag and home plate ump Alfonso Marquez punched Sandoval out.

"[Werth] was cheating in a touch there for a ball that goes through," Matt Williams told reporters. "Maybe giving up a little bit on a ball in the gap, but he was able to pick it clean and make a nice throw to Wilson at the plate to get him. It's just a heads up [play] being in the right spot and making sure that he had a chance to throw him out if he fielded it cleanly."

Having helped saved a run in the sixth on the receiving end of Werth's outfield assist, Ramos doubled for the second time on the night and the seventh time this season in his fourth at bat of the game in the ninth, taking a first-pitch fastball from reliever Juan Gutierrez to left and hustling around to second ahead of a throw from Gregor Blanco, but Ramos was in obvious discomfort when he stood up after sliding.

First first base coach Tony Tarasco and then manger Matt Williams and head trainer Lee Kuntz came out to check on Ramos, who stretched his leg to test it and then walked off the field, replaced at second by Nate McLouth and later behind the plate by Jose Lobaton.

Williams explained after the game that Ramos said his right hamstring was tight.

"He's got some hamstring, right hamstring tightness," Williams said.

"So we'll have to reevaluate him tomorrow. But we thought it best to get him out of there. So, right now we just don't know anything other than it's tight, so we'll see how he feels tomorrow."

The second of two hamstring issues Ramos dealt with last season led to a DL stint which kept him out of action from May 15-July 4th last season after he'd missed two weeks with the first one suffered in the second week of April. In 2012, Ramos suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee.

After working his way back from the knee injury and overcoming the hamstring issues Ramos went on a run in the second half last summer, but seven innings into the 2014 campaign he suffered a broken hamate bone in his left hand which cost him another five weeks on the DL as he recovered from surgery.

Nationals 2-1 over Giants in AT&T Park

Photo © Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports

Asked for his level of concern, Williams said, "It's always a concern with him."

"Anything with the legs. He pushed it a couple of times tonight going to second. What he told me out there was he didn't think it was bad but it was tight. So, we'll see how he is tomorrow."

Ramos told reporters, including The Washington Post's Adam Kilgore, that he wasn't worried about the tightness, explaining that he was remaining positive since it didn't feel as bad as the injury he suffered last season.