Rosario gets nod at second base over García vs. lefty

Luis García Jr. was the Nationals’ surprise No. 3 hitter on Opening Day. Perhaps more surprising is the fact he’s not even in the lineup for Game No. 2.

With left-hander Jesús Luzardo on the mound for the Phillies, García is on the bench this afternoon, with Amed Rosario instead starting at second base and batting fifth.

“It’s early,” manager Davey Martinez explained. “I want to try to get everybody in there, try to get some at-bats to some of these guys. And the reason why we signed Rosario is because he hits lefties really well. So we’ll give him some at-bats today.

García often sat last season against lefties, though he started to get more opportunities later during his breakthrough season. Even so, the 24-year-old was far more effective against right-handers (.796 OPS) than lefties (.641).

Rosario, on the other hand, owns a career .798 OPS vs. left-handers, not to mention a .298 batting average. The Nationals signed the 29-year-old utilityman to a major league deal over the winter, envisioning him as a part-time second baseman who can also play third base, shortstop and the outfield if needed.

There are also specific reasons for the switch today. García is just 2-for-16 in his career against Luzardo, while Rosario is 3-for-8 with a double and a triple.

“Yeah, it’s a little matchup-based there,” Martinez said.

Though he’ll start the game on the bench, there’s a good chance García will come off the bench at some point during today’s game. Martinez would like to use him as a pinch-hitter against the right-hander in the right situation late. Perhaps the kind of situation that presented itself Thursday, when Paul DeJong came up to bat with runners on second and third and one out in the seventh, only to strike out. If a similar situation arose today, García could pinch-hit for DeJong and then enter the game at second base, with Rosario shifting to third base.

The flip-side of facing a left-handed starter today: Dylan Crews was bumped all the way up from the No. 8 spot in the lineup to the No. 2 spot he held most of spring training. Crews will bat between CJ Abrams and James Wood.

* It may not have been noticed by many, given what was happening in Thursday’s game at the time, but the Nationals had Brad Lord warming up in the bullpen while they were batting in the bottom of the 10th.

The reasoning was twofold. Lord would have pitched the top of the 11th if the Nats had somehow rallied from four runs down to extend the game. But more than that, Martinez wanted the rookie right-hander to experience the warm-up process in a big league bullpen for the first time, knowing he will be called upon at some point in the near future regardless.

“Just to get him to feel what it’s like to get up, and see how he reacted,” Martinez said. “(Bullpen coach Ricky Bones) said he was really good. He said he didn’t change a thing. He got up and prepared himself really well. That’s good.”

The Nats have high hopes for Lord, one of the organization’s top starting prospects who was kept in the Opening Day bullpen. And they intend to use him, as well as fellow rookie Orlando Ribalta, as much as possible from the get-go this year.

“I don’t want Ribalta or Lord to just sit there. They have to pitch,” Martinez said. “We talked about it today, how we can utilize both of them if necessary. We’ve got to use all our guys. … They both had good spring trainings. They’ve done some really good things. I need to give them the opportunity to go out there and pitch and perform.”