Wire Taps: Ryan Zimmerman re-injures foot; Max Scherzer could return Thursday; Braves rout Washington Nationals...

Losing Max Scherzer for three weeks isn’t fantastic, but it has one benefit: the pitcher who owned the first half of the season will start his second half of the year with a ton of energy in the tank, which is promising given how good he was pitching through pain and an outsized number of innings.

Here’s the news from Nationals Park, where extended netting will debut today:

Ryan Zimmerman exits Nationals game with apparent heel injury (WaPo)
If Zim goes down again, the Nats won't need to do much filling in via trade, seeing as they have Matt Adams, Howie Kendrick, Gerardo Parra, Jake Noll, and Yadiel Hernandez at their disposal.

Nationals settle for a series split with the Braves after getting routed, 7-1, in the finale (WaPo)
The Nats demolished the baseball, but it never went anywhere. They fielded grounders, but they fell out of their gloves. They came tantalizingly close to figuring out Kevin Gausman and then were unable to get the job done as time ran out.

Nationals recall Joe Ross, place Austin Voth on injured list with biceps tendinitis (WaPo)
“I was very conflicted with the situation,” Voth said of trying to earn a rotation spot and listen to his body. He will begin throwing again Monday and see how he feels. “I want to go out there and pitch, but I don’t want to go out there not at 100 percent and put the game on the line just because I want to fight through something when I shouldn’t."

Scherzer aiming to return Thursday, Voth heads to IL (MASN)
Scherzer's bursa sac is doing fine after the cortisone shot, but the final test will be a full bullpen session this afternoon.

Ryan Zimmerman leaves game with injury (MLB.com)
Zimmerman told Freddie Freeman on air (hooray for ESPN mics!) that he hurt his heel running to first.

Series win eludes Nationals in Atlanta (MLB.com)
Thanks to iffy bullpen management and sporadic offense, the Nationals are exactly where they were: 6.5 games behind the Braves. Could be a lot better, could be a lot worse.

Nationals' streaks end in lopsided loss to Braves (MASN)
Joe Ross was the backup for the backup (who was filling in for Max Scherzer), and even though he went as far as anyone could've possibly expected, a taxed bullpen and a hard-luck night for the offense meant a starter lost the game for the first time since June 15th.

Zimmerman appears to re-injure heel (MASN)
"With his single tonight - a hard grounder down the third base line that Josh Donaldson could only knock down - he raised his batting average to .302 (13-for-43) with five doubles and four RBIs since his return."