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Davey Martinez said earlier this week he was concerned to hear Stephen Strasburg say the nerve issue in his right wrist which delayed the start of the pitcher’s 11th season resurfaced during the 2009 No. 1 overall pick’s first start of the 2020 campaign last Sunday.
“We’ve talked to him,” Martinez said, “he’s adamant about trying to pitch through this right now. But we’re going to keep a very close eye on him tomorrow.
“We’ll see where he’s at, we’ll see how far he can get. But this is going to be something where hopefully tomorrow he gets through it and there’s no issues.
“If it does become an issue, we have to reevaluate and sit down with him again and figure out what the best steps are for him.”
Going into tonight’s start, Martinez reiterated that the dugout would be watching Strasburg closely in his second start of the season.
“He says he’s ready to go. We’re going to send him out there. Like I said, we’ll keep an eye on him,” the manager said in his pregame Zoom call with reporters.
“Based on our conversations with him, he feels like he can work through this injury, but I want to be smart. I really do.
“And I’ve got to be smart. Not just for right now, but for the future. He’s a big part of our future, he’s a big part of what we do here.
“We want to make sure we take care of him, but we’ll see. As you all know, he’s competitive, he’s tough, but we got to be smart about this.
“If he’s out there and he starts shaking his hand all over the place, we’re going to have to do something else.
“I don’t want this to become an issue somewhere else or him change something, because he was in a good place, and we want to keep him there.”
Strasburg was shaking his wrist out early in Oriole Park, and after a brief 16-pitch, seven-strike appearance in which he gave up a solo home run, both Martinez and trainer Paul Lessard visited the mound and after a conversation, they made the decision to end his outing.
More on Strasburg after the game...