Williams planning for Scherzer to miss Tuesday's start

MIAMI - A swollen right thumb has placed the next start for Nationals ace Max Scherzer in doubt.

"I'm not ready to rule it out completely, but I also have to be honest with myself because anytime you deal with an injury to your pitching hand, you literally have to be 100 percent to go back out there," Scherzer said.

The right-hander is scheduled to make his fifth start of the season on Tuesday in Atlanta. He jammed his hand when he hit a grounder in his second at-bat in the fifth inning on Thursday. He remained in the game to pitch the six and seventh innings, then left before his next plate appearance.

"It's sore," Scherzer said. "I'm dealing with a little sprain in there. I'm progressing every day, so I'm literally day-to-day."

The Nats are treating the swelling with hot and cold compresses. Scherzer was unable to make his scheduled bullpen session on Saturday and today only managed to throw briefly on field level off flat ground.

"I've dealt with an injury before in college where I had cut on my middle finger and I went back out there and pitched through the pain," Scherzer said. "And two weeks later, I had bicep tendinitis and really kind of almost messed up my shoulder."

The Nats could turn to right-hander Tanner Roark to fill in on Tuesday if Scherzer gets bumped. After going 15-10 with a 2.85 ERA last season, Roark was forced out of this year's starting rotation when the Nats signed Scherzer.

Roark last pitched on Friday night when he took the loss after giving up a run on one hit in 1 1/3 innings. He is 0-2 with a 2.89 ERA in six appearances out of the bullpen this season.

Update: Nationals manager Matt Williams addressed Scherzer's condition after today's loss to the Marlins.

"I don't anticipate him missing more than one turn, but again, you don't know," said Williams. "He threw today, he played catch today, wasn't fully comfortable with getting on a mound yet and going to work with all his pitches. So that being said, we'll probably have to make an adjustment on Tuesday. We don't know exactly who that is yet."

"We'll get through tomorrow's game and see where we're at, but there are options for us. I don't know if Max is gonna make this one, but I would not anticipate at this point - pending further evaluation, further days - that we'd miss a second one. But we'll see."