Abrams sits with sore elbow, Ruiz gets chance to DH

SEATTLE – The Nationals wrap up the West Coast portion of their nine-game road trip this afternoon with a matinee against the Mariners. They’ll do so without two regular members of their lineup starting, each for different reasons.

CJ Abrams is sitting after getting hit by a pitch on his right elbow in the top of the seventh Tuesday night. It was actually the second time the young shortstop was hit in that location during this trip, and this time it swelled up enough to warrant departing the game.

Abrams did initially remain in Tuesday’s game and proceeded to steal second after reaching. On the slide, he appeared to get spiked on his right hand. When the inning ended, he remained in the dugout, with Ildemaro Vargas taking over at shortstop for the final five frames of an 11-inning victory.

Abrams was walking around the clubhouse this morning with his right arm in a sleeve after receiving treatment. He didn’t sound concerned about missing any length of time.

“He’s a little sore; he’s getting worked on this morning,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He should be available to pinch-hit, play some defense later on in the game. Just giving him a little breather. He’s a guy who got hit twice in the same spot in a week. He woke up today a little sore.”

Joey Meneses, meanwhile, has a rare day off, not because of any injury but because he rarely gets a chance to take a day off. The Nats regular designated hitter had a big weekend in San Diego but was 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in Seattle.

With Meneses sitting, Keibert Ruiz is serving as DH today. That allows Martinez to keep his regular catcher (who homered Tuesday night) in the lineup while taking some of the wear and tear off him. And it allows him to give Riley Adams a start behind the plate and hope his backup catcher can continue swinging a hot bat.

“I thought we get a day off tomorrow (prior to a weekend series at Philadelphia), so with Keibert DHing today, he gets a day off tomorrow. And just giving Joey a day. Trying to give him two days. But he’ll be available to pinch-hit if we need him. We’re trying to give him two days off his feet," Martinez said. 

Martinez planned this all out in advance, so it has nothing to do with anybody’s performance in recent days.

Adams has done a nice job in limited action this season. He’s taken a total of 63 plate appearances in 17 games, batting .304 with three doubles, two triples, three homers, nine RBIs and a .960 OPS.

“He’s being more aggressive in the strike zone,” Martinez said. “We talked a lot last year, where we thought he was always hitting with two strikes. So we wanted him to be a little more aggressive. Look for the ball down, where he’s really good. But let it go. He plays once or twice a week. Just try to work good at-bats and be a little more situational, if he can.”