Washington Nationals place Jeremy Hellickson on 10-Day DL; recall Jefry Rodriguez; Jimmy Cordero...

Washington Nationals’ skipper Davey Martinez told reporters yesterday that the diagnosis for Jeremy Hellickson, who was injured during his start in the series in St. Louis, was a sprained right wrist that would likely land the right-hander on the 10-Day Disabled List.

“He has a bad sprain,” Martinez said, as quoted by MASN’s Pete Kerzel.

“He’s going to miss a start, so we’re going to put him on the DL. We haven’t made a move yet. We’ll probably wait until tomorrow.”

Martinez initially said after the game against the Cardinals that he feared Hellickson had broken his wrist, but an MRI revealed only a sprain.

“He’s still pretty sore,” Martinez added. “He says it hasn’t gotten any better. We’ll have to wait and see, but hopefully with treatment, he’ll get better quickly.”

This morning, the Nationals also announced that Jefry Rodriguez was being called up to start in place of scheduled starter Tommy Milone, with a corresponding move to follow.

The move(s), announced this afternoon, included placing Hellickson on the DL, calling up Rodriguez, optioning Trevor Gott to Triple-A, and recalling right-hander Jimmy Cordero.

In 18 outings for the Nationals, Hellickson, 31, who signed a minor league deal with the Nats late this Spring, has put up a 3.57 ERA, a 4.25 FIP, 19 walks (1.94 BB/9), 64 Ks (6.52 K/9), and a .231/.289/.395 line against in 88 ¹⁄₃ IP.

• Strasburg Update: The good news, pitching-wise, for the Nationals, is that Stephen Strasburg, who has been on the DL since July 20th with what was described in a press release on the injury as a cervical nerve impingement, is, barring any setbacks, going to return for the start of the series with Philadelphia’s Phillies on Tuesday.

“A lot of it will depend on how he feels tomorrow,” Martinez told reporters, as quoted by MLB.com’s Ian Quillen on Friday.

“He’s going to throw another pretty heavy bullpen, and then we’ll go from there.”