ARLINGTON, Texas – Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: CJ Abrams is not in the Nationals lineup tonight. Not for any disciplinary reasons, but because he sprained his left ankle in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday night.
In trying to avoid the tag on a leadoff double to left, Abrams went into second base standing up, and in doing so rolled his left ankle pretty good, ultimately having to switch to his right foot on the bag on a bang-bang play that was challenged by the Rangers and upheld on replay review. He was able to finish the game but woke up this morning in pain and was limping around the clubhouse this afternoon.
“It definitely got worse overnight,” manager Blake Butera said. “After the game, he was like: ‘It’s bothering me, but I think I’ll be good tomorrow.’ And then this morning, I checked in with him, and it kind of blew up on him. He said he woke up around 8 with it feeling pretty bad.”
So, not only is Abrams not playing second base tonight, he’s not playing at all. He was due to see a doctor this evening and potentially get an MRI to determine the severity of the sprain. For now, Butera said he’s day-to-day. And the plan to move him to his new position in the infield is on hold six days after it was publicly announced.
The Nationals’ lineup tonight doesn’t look anything like the one that has scored more runs than any team in the majors this season, with Abrams and James Wood both hurt and Luis Garcia Jr. and Curtis Mead no longer members of the organization. The remaining group will have to try to find a way to produce against Jacob deGrom, the two-time Cy Young Award winner who despite a number of injury setbacks over the years is still going strong at 38. The ERA is a little inflated at 3.95, but his strikeout rate (11 per nine innings) is actually slightly better than his career rate. And he enters tonight’s game only two shy of 2,000 strikeouts for his career, a notable milestone.
Andrew Alvarez gets the start for the Nats, and the left-hander has quietly been putting things together himself in recent weeks. Over his last four appearances, Alvarez has a 2.49 ERA. Most importantly, he has issued only one walk in each of his last two starts, overcoming his earlier tendencies to nibble around the zone.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at TEXAS RANGERS
Where: Globe Life Field
Gametime: 8:05 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV, FS1 (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Indoors
NATIONALS
RF Daylen Lile
DH Abimelec Ortiz
1B Andrés Chaparro
2B Jose Tena
3B Brady House
C Keibert Ruiz
CF Dylan Crews
SS Nasim Nuñez
LF Andrew Pinckney
LHP Andrew Alvarez
RANGERS
DH Wyatt Langford
SS Corey Seager
1B Jake Burger
RF Brandon Nimmo
LF Ezequiel Duran
2B Justin Foscue
C Danny Janson
3B Cody Freeman
CF Evan Carter
RHP Jacob deGrom
Hope CJ's ankle issue is quickly resolved. Need him back at full speed
Seaver King made his first pro start at 3B, interesting tidbit that adds at least another small degree of speculation for what the org is planning for him