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Jayson Werth was 1 for 2 with two walks last night before he was replaced in left field by Chris Heisey in the top of the eighth inning.
Werth dealt with a groin issue earlier in the season, in April, and FanRag’s Jon Heyman reported this week that the 37-going-on-38-year-old outfielder was dealing with some back spasms. So what was it last night?
He singled in his final at bat, and was forced out at second on a Bryce Harper ground ball.
“He was having some tightness in his groin — when he went to break up that double play at second base, and so we took him out of the game,” Dusty Baker explained.
“It was a cold night and you’re always fearful on nights like this of guys having some leg problems and that’s why we took him out.”
Baker was asked if Werth would be available for today’s doubleheader with the Phillies.
“It’s too early to tell,” he said, “but precaution says that it’s not going to be warm.”
A Nationals’ PR spokesperson noted that it was actually supposed to warm up after a few cold, rainy days in D.C.
“Jayson is hot right now and we’ve got to make sure he stays healthy,” Baker added.
Through 31 games and 128 plate appearances in the seventh year of his 7-year/$126M deal with the Nationals, Werth has a .303/.406/.505 line, four doubles and six homers.
Washington Post writer Jorge Castillo reported that Werth said he wanted to play in at least one of the two games today:
Jayson Werth said he hoped to play in 1 game today after leaving last night's game with groin tightness. He called it precautionary.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgeccastillo) May 14, 2017
When the lineup for this afternoon’s game was released, Werth’s name was left off the lineup card, along with Ryan Zimmerman’s name. Will they play tonight?
HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR TODAY’S GAME:
NEW #Nats vs #Phillies 1 of 2 today: Turner SS, Goodwin LF, Harper RF, Rendon 3B, Murphy 2B, Lind 1B, Wieters C, Taylor CF, Gonzalez P
— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) May 14, 2017