Washington Nationals place Justin Miller on 10-Day Injured List; Nats recall Tanner Rainey from Triple-A...

Trea Turner returned to the Washington Nationals’ lineup last night after missing a total of 38 games while he recovered from a broken right index finger he injured in just the fourth game of the 2019 campaign.

While they were still missing the likes of Ryan Zimmerman and Matt Adams, the Nationals got a step closer to full strength with Turner’s return.

Then, three innings into the series opener with the Chicago Cubs last night, 21-year-old outfielder Victor Robles took an 89 MPH cutter from Cole Hamels off his left wrist.

Robles stayed in the game to run the bases, scoring on a home run by Anthony Rendon, but an inning later, Adam Eaton hit for Robles.

Later in the night, reliever Justin Miller struggled on the mound, giving up a leadoff single, a one-out home run, and a two-out walk before he was lifted from the game as well, following a visit to the mound by the Nats’ team trainer, Paul Lessard, and manager, Davey Martinez.

After what ended up a 14-6 loss, Martinez told reporters that X-rays on Robles’s wrist were negative, but Miller wasn’t so lucky.

“Robles has a contusion on his left wrist,” Martinez said.

“We’ll see how he feels tomorrow, X-rays were negative. Miller came out of the game with a rotator cuff strain, he’ll go get an MRI tomorrow.”

Clearly, that meant a stint on the Injured List for Miller, right?

“Yeah, I’m assuming he’ll go on the IL,” Martinez said.

Was this the first time there was any hint of an issue with Miller’s rotator cuff?

“Yeah. And before was his lower back, hip, so this is something new,” the manager added.

This afternoon, Miller was placed on the 10-Day IL again. To replace the right-hander on the roster, the Nationals called reliever Tanner Rainey up from Triple-A Fresno.

Rainey, 26, was acquired from Cincinnati this winter in the trade that sent starter Tanner Roark to the Reds.

The Nats noted in a press release on today’s moves that, Rainey did not allow an earned run in any of his last seven appearances and 7 ²⁄₃ IP on the mound at Triple-A, striking out a total of 18 batters, walking just one, and holding opposing hitters to a .148 AVG (4 for 27) over the recent stretch of successful outings.