Cruz returns, Adrianza jogs, Strange-Gordon pitches

ATLANTA – Less than an hour before today’s scheduled first pitch at Truist Park, Nelson Cruz was in shallow left field, stretching, exercising and testing out his tight groin with Nationals executive director of medical services Harvey Sharman. He didn’t know yet if he’d be playing this afternoon or not after sitting out Tuesday night’s game.

Then Cruz walked back to the visitors’ dugout, headed down to the batting tunnel underneath the stands, and some 15 minutes later the Nats put out their lineup. With Cruz batting third and serving as designated hitter.

“He came in, got treatment, said he felt better,” manager Davey Martinez said earlier in his office. “I want to get him in the cage, let him hit, see where we’re at. We haven’t posted a lineup yet because we’re waiting on him.”

Cruz wasn’t able to play Tuesday, telling Martinez before the game he “couldn’t get loose.” The manager immediately told the 41-year-old to get some treatment and see if he could feel well enough to pinch-hit later in the game. Once the Nationals were trailing by double-digits, there was no reason to take a chance, so Cruz never appeared.

He’s back in there today, though, for the sixth time in seven games to begin the season. And in the short time he’s been with the club, he’s established a trusting rapport with his skipper.

“The biggest thing with me is, he’s very honest,” Martinez said. “I can ask him how he’s feeling, and he’ll be honest with me. That’s something I told him he needs to do. … This guy wants to play every day. He wants to DH every day. He tells me every day: Just write my name in the lineup, and if something goes awry he’ll let me know. And yesterday was a perfect example. He didn’t feel right, and I respect that. The guy knows his body better than anybody. I’m good with it.”

* Ehire Adrianza remains in West Palm Beach, Fla., rehabbing his left quadriceps strain. And though the utility infielder is making progress, it appears he still has a ways to go before he’ll be ready to join the active roster.

Adrianza, who injured himself running to first base in a March 31 exhibition game against the Mets, has begun light running on an anti-gravity treadmill that takes weight off his legs to make it easier.

He’ll need to advance to the point where he can fully run on the field again, then resume baseball activities and appear in some type of games before coming off the 10-day IL.

“You never know with those kind of injuries,” Martinez said. “When he comes back, we want him back 100 percent healthy, so we have no issues moving forward.”

* As ugly as Tuesday night’s 16-4 loss was at times, the saving grace for Martinez was the fact he never had to use any of his five best relievers, saving them for today’s series finale.

That was possible because Dee Strange-Gordon took the mound in the bottom of the eighth for the first pitching appearance of his long career. The speedy utilityman didn’t exactly look like the lights-out reliever his father, Tom Gordon, was several decades ago. Most of his “fastballs” registered between 52-60 mph, though he did fire one in at 80 mph in search of a strikeout. He also threw one pitch at only 34 mph, which he laughingly referred to today as “my slider.”

The Nationals had some fun with the whole thing, presenting Strange-Gordon this morning with a Trackman printout, showing his “heat map.” It included a whole lot of blue (weak zones) and not much red (hot zones).

All kidding aside, Martinez did appreciate Strange-Gordon taking one for the team.

“I told Dee: ‘I know you go out there and it’s not the most opportune thing to do, with a position player. But what you did was save us another arm for today’s game, which is a quick turnaround,’ ” the manager said. “I told him thank you. He was good with it. He said he understood what his dad went through all those years.”