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Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth got the afternoon off in the first of two with the Philadelphia Phillies today in Nationals Park, though Zimmerman came on as part of a double switch in seventh.
Werth, who tweaked his groin sliding into second last night on a potential double play, told reporters, including Washington Post beat writer Jorge Castillo, after the win over the Phils, that he hoped to play in at least one game 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
Dusty Baker said last night that Werth was lifted from the game as a precaution, and told reporters that it was too early at that point to say if Werth would play today.
“Jayson is hot right now and we’ve got to make sure he stays healthy,” Baker explained.
Werth, who turns 38 on May 20th, ended Saturday night with a .303/.406/.505 line, four doubles and six home runs in 31 games and 128 plate appearances in his 15th season in the majors.
The Nationals dropped this afternoon’s half of the split doubleheader with the Phillies.
For the second game of today’s twin bill, Baker apparently decided to give Werth some more rest.
“I don’t think it’s worth the risk of me trying to play him this second game,” Baker explained, “because we’ve got a day off tomorrow, that will give him today and tomorrow and we’ll assess his physical being on Tuesday.”
Zimmerman is back in at first, but Chris Heisey is getting the start in left and batting second....
HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR TONIGHT’S GAME WITH THE PHILLIES:
#Nats vs #Phillies 3 of 3: Turner SS, Heisey LF, Harper RF, Zimmerman 1B, Murphy 2B, Rendon 3B, Taylor CF, Lobaton C, Scherzer P
— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) May 14, 2017
The second game of today’s doubleheader gets underway at 7:05 PM EDT in D.C.