Slumping Crews gets night off, Soroka hopeful of making next start

TORONTO – Davey Martinez insists he planned to give Dylan Crews the night off all along. True or not, the benching comes at an appropriate time for the slumping rookie, who is still seeking his first hit of the 2025 season.

So for the Nationals’ game tonight against the Blue Jays, it’s Alex Call in right field and batting eighth, not Crews.

“Honestly, this was kind of pre-planned coming into the series,” Martinez said. “Look, it’s hard to play this game for 162 days, and I want to get everyone involved. I wanted to get Alex in there today. But it kind of worked out to give Dylan a little bit of a mental break today, get him off his feet.”

It’s been a difficult opening week for Crews, the highly touted rookie who enjoyed a good spring and looked poised to get his season started on the right foot. He’s 0-for-15 through four games, striking out 10 times (including one stretch of eight consecutive at-bats Saturday and Sunday).

Crews did make solid contact Monday, driving a ball 399 feet to the base of the wall in center field, a hit that carried an expected batting average of .820 but was nevertheless caught by Toronto’s Nathan Lukes. That one swing, though, is an anomaly during an otherwise rough start for the 23-year-old.

“It’s part of it,” Martinez said. “If he struck out eight, 10 times during the course of the season in the middle, it won’t go unnoticed, but it won’t be that big a deal. But it’s the start of the season, and everybody puts pressure on wanting to start off well. But like I said before, he’s going to be fine.”

Call becomes only the second Nationals reserve to start a game so far. Amed Rosario replaced Luis García Jr. at second base Saturday against the Phillies. José Tena and Riley Adams have only appeared off the bench to this point, though Adams could get the start behind the plate instead of Keibert Ruiz for Wednesday afternoon’s series finale at Rogers Centre.

* The Nationals remain cautiously optimistic Michael Soroka’s biceps injury isn’t serious and that the right-hander will be able to make his next start.

Soroka had to depart his season debut Monday night after spiking a slider in the bottom of the sixth, his 83rd pitch of the night. He told Martinez and director of athletic training Paul Lessard his right biceps muscle cramped on the pitch, and he could be seen clenching his fist as he walked off the mound.

Initial tests showed no other issues with Soroka’s arm, and he expressed confidence he won’t need to miss any time.

“He’s getting treatment right now,” Martinez said. “He says he feels better than he did yesterday, so we’ll take it slow and see how he’s doing by the end of the night.”

There are still steps that need to be taken, though, before Soroka knows for sure he’ll be good to go. He will need to throw off a mound at some point in the next few days and not show any lingering signs of trouble.

If the Nats stick with their current rotation schedule, Soroka’s turn would come up Sunday against the Diamondbacks. But with an off-day between this series in Toronto and that one in D.C., they could push him back as far as next Tuesday when the Dodgers come to town.

“We’ve still got a little bit of time,” Martinez said. “We’ve got a day off. He wants to throw before we make any kind of decision. But today’s all about getting treatment, and seeing if we can get some of that soreness out.”