Nats 3, Reds 1
Jesus Flores hit his first home run and drove in his first run since May, 8, 2009 – the day before an foul ball injured his right shoulder and eventually put him on the shelf for almost two years. It was a small step forward, but meaningful nonetheless for the 26-year-old catcher. Jonny Gomes also singled home two runs and made a fine defensive catch in left field to save a run with two outs in the fifth inning. “I was a little worried he might have hurt the wall,” manager Davey Johnson cracked. And Jordan Zimmermann pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings. Read the details in our game story here. The Nats took two of three in the series and crept back to within four games of .500 at 59-63. Unfortunately, a three-game series against the powerhouse Phillies looms this weekend.
Plenty of other news and notes afterwards. Zimmermann is now at 150 2/3 innings for the season. But Johnson and general manager Mike Rizzo had a talk on Thursday and decided Zimmermann will get at least two more starts. His target was 160 innings for the season, but the organization saw no reason to end his year at 156 or 157 innings arbitrarily.
“I don’t know how it’s going to be,” Zimmermann said. “I’m just going to keep pitching until they tell me to stop. If that’s one or two more starts I’m not sure, but I watched for a whole year [after Tommy John surgery] so I think I can handle a month.”
Update on top prospect Bryce Harper, who strained his right hamstring running from first base to third in the eighth inning of a game for Double-A Harrisburg on Thursday at Akron. Reports say Harper had to be helped off the field – never a good sign. Sources indicate that if the injury is serious the Nats will simply shut down their prized 18-year-old outfielder. He’s gotten his feet wet at Double-A after dominating low-A for the first two-and-a-half months of 2011. That’s enough. He’ll be back for instructional league action later in September and likely the Arizona Fall League for more development at-bats. Of course, if Harper is re-examined Friday and deemed healthy then he can finish out the season with Harrisburg. But the Senators only have 18 games left and the season ends Sept. 5. Likely won’t be much time for Harper to shut things down for two weeks and then ramp up his baseball activities to play a handful of games at the tail end. More on his status Friday, though.
Reliever Ryan Mattheus got Zimmermann out of jam with two runners on in the sixth and two out. He struck out Paul Janish, but as he was warming up for the seventh inning experienced some tightness in his right shoulder. Teammate Jayson Werth noticed Mattheus stretching in between innings and asked what was going on. So Werth ran over to tell pitching coach Steve McCatty, who informed Johnson. Turns out Mattheus lifted a little too much weight during off-field exercises before experiencing the tightness. It was precautionary and he says he’s fine, but that was still the end of his night. Mattheus understood. He pitched hurt for 18 months while with the Colorado Rockies without telling the full truth and that eventually led to Tommy John surgery and another 18 months away from the game. He knows not to push it.
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