Adams lands on DL with fractured left index finger

Just when it looked like they were getting healthier, the Nationals found out today they're losing another key regular for some time.

Matt Adams, who while trying to bunt Friday in Toronto took a pitch off his left hand, has been diagnosed with a fractured left index finger and placed on the 10-day disabled list.

The Nationals aren't offering any firm timetable for Adams to return, but he won't be able to swing a bat until the facture is completely healed, and only after that will he be able to start ramping up activities in an attempt to return to the lineup.

"You're always confined to until the bone is healed; there's no rehabilitation," general manager Mike Rizzo said. "We'll wait and see. It's a big loss to us, obviously. He's played extremely well, against right-handed pitchers especially. But this guy's been great for us all season, as important a player as probably any we've had all season. For him to go down, it's a big blow to us."

Adams had been attempting to play each day since getting hit by the pitch, but swelling in his finger prevented him from doing much. An initial X-ray taken Friday night was inconclusive, and club officials planned to get another one taken once the swelling went down and a clearer view of the finger could be seen.

That second X-ray occurred Monday night and showed what manager Davey Martinez referred to as a "slight fracture."

"The big thing was the blood," Martinez said. "We couldn't do anything, cause the blood was in there. And then once they got that to calm down, they got a better X-ray."

Signed to a modest, $4 million contract over the winter, Adams was supposed to serve as the Nationals' top left-handed bat off the bench and an occasional replacement for Ryan Zimmerman at first base. But a spate of injuries forced Adams into the daily lineup, first in left field and eventually at first base after Zimmerman strained an oblique muscle.

Adams ranks second on the club to Bryce Harper with 13 homers and 36 RBIs, and his .926 OPS in 171 plate appearances trails only rookie Juan Soto's 1.013 mark in far fewer plate appearances (95).

With Zimmerman still not participating in any on-field drills, the Nationals will ask Daniel Murphy and Mark Reynolds to split duties at first base, though they view that as a temporary fix.

"Murph's doing pretty good; yesterday he had a double," Martinez said of Murphy, who is 3-for-22 since making his season debut last week. "So eventually he's going to have to play second base, too. We want him to play second base. But for right now, the way it matched up today, we thought first base would be a good start for him."

Adams becomes the Nationals' eighth major league position player to go on the DL this season, joining Murphy, Zimmerman, Adam Eaton, Anthony Rendon, Matt Wieters, Howie Kendrick and Brian Goodwin. Club officials can only shrug off their string of bad fortune.

"At this point in time, we're used to it," Rizzo said. "We seem to get two back and lose two. That's kind of the way we've been going about this season. We're just going to muddle through it and grind through. The one thing it's taught me is this team is as tough-minded as I've ever seen and ever been associated with. We'll find a way to win baseball games and get to our goal, and that's win the National League East again."

In other injury news ...

* Jeremy Hellickson, who was supposed to pitch a simulated game to live hitters today, was unable to do that due to this afternoon's thunderstorm. Hellickson, in the final stages of rehab from a strained hamstring, did throw 50 pitches off the bullpen mound in something of a pseudo-simulated game, which he hopes is enough to prepare him to come off the DL by the end of the week.

* Brandon Kintzler (flexor strain in forearm) has thrown from 75 feet on flat ground but has not yet thrown off a bullpen mound.

* Stephen Strasburg (shoulder inflammation) has not been cleared yet to throw and is just strengthening and rehabbing.