Bacus promoted, Harper optioned but could still pitch tonight

BALTIMORE - The Nationals made another change to their bullpen prior to today's resumption of Sunday's suspended game against the Orioles, promoting right-hander Dakota Bacus and optioning right-hander Ryne Harper to their alternate training site in Fredericksburg.

But that doesn't necessarily mean Harper won't make an appearance at Camden Yards before the night is over.

Because clubs are allowed to add a 29th man to their active roster for the regularly scheduled nine-inning game coming later this evening, the Nationals could keep Harper and have him fill that role. He won't be eligible to pitch in the final four innings of the early game, but he could pitch tonight and then report to Fredericksburg on Saturday.

Harper has been one of Davey Martinez's go-to guys out of the bullpen through the season's first three weeks, appearing in eight of the Nationals' first 15 completed games. The 31-year-old impressed early on with five consecutive scoreless appearances but has since struggled, allowing a total of eight runs and three home runs over his last 2 2/3 innings.

"He threw the ball well for us," Martinez said in his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "We need him moving forward, but we just want to give him a little break. He's walked some batters as of late. All these pitchers will always tell you they feel great ... but we looked at some different things on him and we thought he might need a little break."

Once he's officially in the minors, he'll have to spend 10 days there before he can be recalled (unless another pitcher suffers an injury).

"We'll see what happens, but he'll get a little break and be ready to go when we need him," Martinez said.

Bacus joins the bullpen for both of tonight's games and likely could make his major league debut here. The 29-year-old right-hander, a ninth-round pick of the Athletics in the 2012 draft who came to D.C. one year later in the trade that sent Kurt Suzuki back to Oakland, has made 225 career appearances in the minors, with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.293 WHIP.

"We got good reports (on) him," Martinez said. "So we just want to bring up a fresh arm."

While the Nationals take the field at Camden Yards for tonight's games, Sean Doolittle is heading to Fredericksburg to begin his rehab from what the team has called "right knee fatigue."

Doolittle, who was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday, hasn't looked right on the mound at all this season, his fastball velocity down several mph. He has let nine of 18 batters faced reach base and served up three home runs.

Before he begins throwing again, Martinez wants his veteran lefty to make sure his legs are healthy.

"We don't want him to develop any bad habits right now," the manager said. "We want him to progress. We felt like over the last couple days he was doing that. But he was working his tail off to try to get things right. So hopefully these next 10 days he'll figure it out, we'll get him back here and win some games."