Drew Storen breaks thumb in frustration (Rizzo and Williams react)

Nationals manager Matt Williams revealed before tonight's game in Miami that right-hander Drew Storen has a non-displaced fracture in his right thumb, according to MASN's Dan Kolko. Storen reportedly injured his throwing hand slamming his locker shut in the Nationals clubhouse following the 5-3 loss to the Mets on Wednesday night.

Williams called on Storen to face Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes with one on and one out and the game tied in the eighth. Storen hung a slider and Cespedes demolished it into deep left-center field for a go-ahead two-run homer.

Storen was lights-out through the first four months of the season, saving 29 of 31 chance with a 1.73 ERA. But general manager Mike Rizzo acquired veteran closer Jonathan Papelbon on July 28, bumping Storen to the setup role.

Storen's season has been mostly disastrous since Papelbon's arrival, with his ERA jumping to 6.75 in 20 appearances.

After Wednesday's loss, Storen stood in front of his locker describing the difficult slump he's been mired in.

"It's tough," Storen said. "It tests you a little bit, but that's what this game is about. It's not easy. It's not easy to get here and it's not easy to stay here and it's really not easy to be an elite guy. Especially down in the bullpen where you're the hero or zero. I've been on the wrong end of things recently, but I got a couple weeks to turn it around."

According to Kolko, Storen is unlikely to return this season.

Update: Williams and general manager Mike Rizzo spoke to reporters at Marlins Park about Storen's injury prior to tonight's game.

"He got (to Miami) and his thumb was pretty swollen up," Williams said. "He tried to go out and throw and couldn't really be effective doing it. He came and spoke to us about it and then we got an X-ray yesterday to show the fracture.

"(Storen is) regretful that it happened and a little bit embarrassed about it, of course. He's a competitor and he was frustrated and made a mistake. He's got that fracture and there's not much we can do it about now."

The Nationals experienced a similar loss in 2013 when right-hander Ryan Mattheus broke his hand punching a locker after a blowout loss in San Diego.

"It's definitely unfortunate," Rizzo said of Storen's injury. "He was pitching so well until a couple weeks ago and then has struggled. I guess his frustration boiled over and sometimes you react and sometimes you react inappropriately. It makes it tough on his teammates. It hurts the team. We went through this a couple years ago with a relief pitcher and it really affects the other bullpen members. So it's unfortunate and we're not too happy about it. Drew is a competitor and unfortunately he chose a route to let his frustration out that affects the ballclub."

Rizzo was asked if being bumped to the setup role affected Storen.

"It's a game of adjustments and his role was adjusted," Rizzo told reporters. "Early on the adjustment worked fine. He threw great, I think, the first five or six times that he was setting up for Jonathan. And since then, he was a guy that was a little bit inconsistent with his command and his stuff and just kind of fell into a rut and it seemed like he couldn't get out of it."