If things couldn't get even worse for the Washington Nationals this season, before getting swept by the Atlanta Braves, Dave Martinez announced that Joe Ross would be heading to the IL due to a torn UCL.
Before we get into the latest injury, the Washington Nationals got swept again, this time by the Atlanta Braves, by losing this afternoon's game 6-5.
The Nationals couldn't beat the Braves, who played some impressive baseball on both ends of the bat. The Nationals were able to get ten hits in this afternoon's game. However, they were just not able to capitalize on the hitting. With two outs and runners on second and first, Kieboom hit a hard hit on the third-base line that Austin Riley snagged to end the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Recently acquired left fielder Lane Thomas who the Nationals got n exchange for trading John Lester at the treading deadline at the end of July, went 2-4 in the afternoon while Kieboom, Robles, and Soto all registered RBI's in the loss.
Washington Nationals starter Paolo Espino who got the loss went four innings, gave up five runs on eight hits and three home runs. Espino's ERA now sits at 4.16. Espino only struck out three batters and walked two but could not keep the Braves hitters quiet. Fedde Freeman and Austin Riely had back-to-back home runs, which gave the Braves the lead for the afternoon.
The Nationals now have a day off until they play against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. The Nationals are currently sit in last place in the NL East with a record of 50-68 and have lost seven straight to be 12 games behind the now first-place Atlanta Braves. In the last ten games, the Nationals have only won one game. They have a 24-35 record at home.
Before the game started, the Nationals were greeted with more bad news that right-handed starter Joe Ross will be heading to the IL due to a torn UCL.
According to Martinez, Ross experienced right forearm tightness following his scheduled bullpen session of 28 to 30 pitches on Saturday afternoon, after which he told the team he felt "weird." Nationals orthopedist Dr. Robert Najarian evaluated Ross. Following a flexor pronator strain diagnosis, Ross had an MRI, which revealed the partial tear. He will be reevaluated by Dr. Keith Meister, who performed his first Tommy John surgery, to determine the next steps. "I talked to Joe this morning for quite a while. He's down, we're all down, but we hope the best comes out of this," manager Dave Martinez said.
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"I don't want to make any assumptions until he goes and sees Dr. Meister and we get a report for him as well." Martinez continued, "There was a fine line between because of one, he sat out last year, [and] two, he wants to compete," Martinez said. "By the conversations that we had with Joe and we always have with Joe, he felt good. He had little issues where we shut him down right away, and [then] he came back, and he said he felt great. "Now we're at the point now where we did everything we can to keep him healthy. But for me, you can't ever predict injuries -- they just happen. That's the troubling part of it."
Ross had already undergone Tommy John surgery in July 2017. He made his return 14 months later, in September of '18. The following season, he made a memorable spot start in place of Max Scherzer in Game 5 of the World Series.