Rare night off for both Abrams and García vs. Sale

ATLANTA – Davey Martinez laughed as he recalled his one and only playing experience against Randy Johnson.

On May 24, 1998, the inaugural Devil Rays franchise faced the Mariners at the Kingdome, with the Big Unit on the mound for Seattle. Tampa Bay’s regular lineup featured two Hall of Famers in Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs. Neither of whom played that day, because of the particular challenge left-handed hitters faced against Johnson, who had the ability to screw up a good hitter for weeks with one dominant start.

The only lefty in the lineup that day: Martinez, who batted second. And then proceeded to strike out four times.

Some 26 years later, Martinez was thinking about that scenario as he planned his lineup for tonight’s series opener against Chris Sale. Which explains why CJ Abrams and Luis García Jr. are sitting against the Braves’ left-handed ace and Cy Young Award favorite.

“It’s funny, because when I was looking at how good Chris has been this year, it reminds me a lot of Randy Johnson, where all the lefties sat,” Martinez said. “He’s been really good, so it’ll be a lot of righties in there, and see if we can beat him that way.”

It’s only the third time Abrams and García (arguably the team’s two best everyday players this season) have both sat on the same day, the first time since May 15.

García has been on fire this month, posting a .391 batting average and 1.050 OPS so far in August. And he’s been getting the chance to start against lefties in recent weeks, a significant development from earlier in the season. Tempting as it might have been to let him stand in there against Sale tonight, Martinez worried García might lose his mojo in the process.

Abrams, on the other hand, has been mired in a prolonged slump for weeks. Over his last 41 games, he’s batting a scant .170 with a .580 OPS, a far cry from his All-Star numbers during the season’s first half.

“It’s nice to give him a little breather,” Martinez said. “He’ll be readily available later on in the game. But it’s a good time to get some of these righties in there.”

The Nationals do still have two left-handed batters starting tonight in left fielder James Wood and third baseman José Tena. The only right-handed bat on the bench, though, is backup catcher Riley Adams, so they couldn’t field an exclusively right-handed lineup with their current personnel.

Wood has done a nice job against southpaws through the first two months of his career, batting .269 with five extra-base hits, a .338 on-base percentage and .726 OPS across 74 plate appearances. This will be the biggest challenge he’s faced to date.

“He’s got to stay in there, and stay in the middle of the field,” Martinez said. “(Sale) is going to come after him. He can’t chase the slider. Same thing with Tena. They’ve got to get on the fastball and not chase sliders.”