Game 101: Nats at Rockies

The Nationals hope to take advantage of the conditions at blazing-hot Coors Field tonight. Plus, injury updates on PJ Poulin and Jake Irvin.

DENVER – Hello from blazing hot Coors Field. Yes, I said blazing hot. It was 102 degrees when I walked into the ballpark this afternoon, and though it’s going to cool down a bit by gametime, it’s still going to be in the upper 90s. I’ve seen how the ball flies here when the weather is nice. How far is it going to go when it’s this hot?

The Nationals are coming off a weekend series win in Sacramento, one that had a little bit of everything. This would seem like an opportune time and place for the lineup to keep things rolling, particularly in tonight’s opener against veteran Kyle Freeland. The left-hander is having by far the worst of his 10 seasons in a Rockies uniform, with a 7.36 ERA and 1.568 WHIP. He’s allowed 18 homers in only 88 innings.

The Nats have their own lefty on the mound in Andrew Alvarez, who has allowed only two homers in 49 big-league innings this season. Alvarez’s No. 1 priority tonight: Make the Rockies earn their way on. Walks are a major no-no here, and when he has struggled this year, they’ve usually played a big role.

Scroll down below the lineups for some injury updates ...

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 8:40 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Mostly clear, 97 degrees, wind 10 mph in from right

NATIONALS
RF James Wood
3B Curtis Mead
DH Andrés Chaparro
SS CJ Abrams
LF Dylan Crews
CF Jacob Young
C Harry Ford
1B Luis García Jr.
2B Nasim Nuñez

LHP Andrew Alvarez

ROCKIES
LF Jake McCarthy
3B Kyle Karros
CF Cole Carrigg
DH Hunter Goodman
1B TJ Rumfield
2B Willi Castro
C Braxton Fulford
RF Tyler Freeman
SS Ezequiel Tovar

LHP Kyle Freeland

PREGAME NOTES

Photo by Billy Sabatini / ALL-PRO REELS

POULIN RELIEVED AFTER ENCOURAGING MRI RESULTS

An MRI taken of PJ Poulin’s elbow did not show any damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, only the flexor strain the left-hander already had been diagnosed with over the weekend. He could still miss up to six weeks, but that’s a far shorter timeline for recovery than he might have faced with a more serious elbow injury.

“Obviously, your mind goes some places,” he said of the possibility of a major ailment. “But now that we got the MRI, we know exactly what it is. It definitely puts my mind at ease. It could’ve been worse, right?”

Poulin said he first felt discomfort three weeks ago while the Nationals were playing in Boston. He was held out of that series after getting an anti-inflammatory shot, then was able to make two appearances during the final homestand before the All-Star break, including a 31-pitch scoreless outing as the team’s opener against the Yankees.

But upon trying to play catch Friday prior to the team’s second-half opener in Sacramento, Poulin felt a recurrence of the elbow discomfort. The team shut him down, placed him on the 15-day IL Sunday and scheduled the MRI for this morning in Denver.

“I tried to fight through it, got some anti-inflammatories in me – that I think helped at the time – to help get me through a couple weeks,” he said. “After we tried to wean off that, that’s when it kind of came back again.”

IRVIN CLOSE TO RETURNING FROM IL

Jake Irvin appears to be close to returning from his extended stay on the IL after a strong rehab start Sunday for Double-A Harrisburg. The right-hander, out nearly two months with a shoulder strain, tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings on 51 pitches, striking out five without issuing a walk. He had previously thrown three scoreless innings over the All-Star break in a Florida Complex League game in West Palm Beach.

Beyond the actual results, Irvin came out of Sunday’s start feeling strong and confident about his repertoire. Blake Butera said his fastball averaged 93-94 mph, similar to what it was prior to his injury. The manager said Irvin likely needs to make one more rehab start but could be activated after that to give the Nats pitching staff a much-needed boost.

“Everything was as good as we could’ve asked,” Butera said. “Hopefully it stays that way … knock on wood. But he felt great. I was texting with him after. Obviously, the line was really good, but I think he was just happier he got out there feeling really good.”

Other injury updates:

* Trevor Williams threw 60 pitches over 3 1/3 innings Sunday for Single-A Wilmington, giving up three runs on six hits.

* Brad Lord threw a 13-pitch bullpen session Sunday.

* DJ Herz threw off a mound Saturday.

NATS SIGN THREE MORE DRAFT PICKS

The Nationals have now signed their top four picks from this year’s draft, going under-slot on both of the college players they selected in order to go over-slot on both of the high school players who followed them.

Having already signed first-round pick Chris Hacopian for $5.7 million (about $400,000 under slot for the No. 11 pick) last week, the Nats then signed second-rounder Chase Brunson of TCU for $1.8 million (more than $1.1 million under slot), according to MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis.

The team them used those savings to pay more to their next two draft selections, both of them high school players who could’ve chosen to go to college instead of signing for less money. Third-round pick Luke Williams signed for $2.5 million (nearly $1.5 million over slot) and fourth-round pick Cooper Harris signed for $1.5 million (about $760,000 over slot), according to Callis.

This is a similar strategy the Nationals deployed with last year’s draft, which was run by interim general manager Mike DeBartolo.