The Nationals placed Brad Lord on the 15-day IL with left side tightness Thursday, losing one of their few reliable relievers for this weekend’s series against the Yankees, plus at least their first series coming out of the All-Star break.
The move, which was announced on the team’s off-day, was backdated to July 6. That makes Lord eligible to return no sooner than July 21, the Nats’ fifth game after the upcoming break.
Lord hadn’t pitched since Sunday, when he was entrusted with a tie game against the Pirates in the top of the seventh but then allowed five runs in the top of the eighth before departing after serving up a three-run homer to Brandon Lowe. He wound up throwing 50 total pitches, 35 of them during that final inning, on one of the hottest days of the year.
“It’s our job to cover innings, and I feel like we were doing it very well,” he said after that game, an 11-6 loss. “Everybody gave us quality innings today. It just sucks I made a few bad pitches and let the team down and gave up the game.”
It was Lord’s second blowup in four appearances. He also gave up six runs in the ninth inning June 23 against the Phillies, charged with a blown save in a series that included three consecutive late losses by the bullpen.
Prior to the first blowup, Lord owned a 2.29 ERA and 1.000 WHIP, earning him the trust of manager Blake Butera to pitch in high-leverage situations despite his reputation as a long man who typically covers two-plus innings per appearance. His ERA has since jumped to 3.88, his WHIP to 1.224.
The Nationals haven’t announced yet who will replace Lord on the active roster for Friday’s series opener against the Yankees. Their choices include several right-handers who have already pitched for them this season but were recently optioned to Triple-A Rochester: Eddy Yean, Gus Varland, Paxton Schultz, Cole Henry, Zak Kent.
They also could promote Kyle Nicolas, who recently was acquired in a trade with the Orioles. Or they could activate Max Kranick, who pitched 2 1/3 innings for Rochester on Wednesday in his sixth minor-league rehab assignment.
PALMQUIST TO OPEN FRIDAY
The Nationals announced Carson Palmquist will open Friday night’s game, hoping the left-hander can have some success against the top of the Yankees lineup before handing the ball to originally scheduled starter Zack Littell.
This will be the third time Palmquist has opened a game since joining the big-league roster 2 1/2 weeks ago. He was sharp against the Phillies, allowing one run in 3 1/3 innings, but he struggled against the Pirates, allowing four runs in one-plus innings.
Miles Mikolas remains the announced starter for Saturday’s game, but the Nats have often used an opener for the veteran right-hander as well. They have not named the starter for Sunday’s first-half finale, with Cade Cavalli a possibility after serving his five-game suspension.
I wonder if he has been fighting the tightness for a little bit which is why he hasn’t been pitching as well as he usually does? No matter what this is a huge loss for the bullpen.
Jessica Camerato of MLB.COM has an article today about CJ. He has learned to be a fluent speaker in Spanish and that has enabled him to be a link to those players who have limited English fluency. I didn’t even know he spoke Spanish but it provides another behind insight on how CJ has become a team leader- the article makes clear that he is seen as a leader within the team. Just wanted to share and I should mention, it was Jessica Camerato’s article, not Spencer Nusbaum as I originally said.