Fracture and bone bruise keeping Werth out (Nats win 4-3)

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Jayson Werth is back with the Nationals, and that part he likes. But he's not back playing with the Nationals, and likely won't be for some time with his left foot still ailing, and that part he does not like.

"It's doing better," Werth said this afternoon. "It's just frustrating because this injury, the bone that's injured is crucial for running."

The bone that's injured is the first metatarsal, the large bone at the base of his big toe. And in addition to the bone bruise that previously was known, Werth today revealed the bone also is fractured.

"But the bone bruise is worse," Werth said. "It's healing. It's a bone, so it just takes time. You don't really know how these things react until you put pressure on them. I did something similar in spring training on my toe, had a hairline fracture in my toe that I could play with. That wasn't a weight-bearing bone. This is. Sometimes you can play with these things, sometimes you can't."

And right now, Werth can't play with it. He can hit (as he did during batting practice today). He can throw (as he did pregame today). But he can't run full-speed, and that is what leaves him on the disabled list a full six weeks after he fouled a ball off his foot in Oakland.

Werth admits now he knew about the fracture from the beginning, but that hasn't changed his timetable to return. He simply must wait for the bone bruise to heal to the point he can run without pain or risk of a more serious injury.

Werth thought he was on the right track when he headed to West Palm Beach, Fla., before the All-Star break to work out with the Nationals' Gulf Coast League squad. But he wasn't able to progress to the point where he could go on a rehab assignment and play in minor league games, and so now he's back traveling with the Nationals, waiting for his body to respond.

"They take time," he said. "If you look up a bone bruise on the internet, it says two months. Doesn't have to be, but because of which bone this is and what it does, just is what it is. It's going to need to be pretty healed before you test it. Because if you (tick) it off, then you're worried about a stress fracture."

Update: Remember those old McDonald's commercials where Michael Jordan and Larry Bird play H-O-R-S-E? Tonight's game kind of feels like that, with Bryce Harper and Mike Trout as the participants. In his first at-bat of the evening, Harper homered to center field, over Trout's head. Then in the bottom of the inning, Trout homered to center, even deeper than Harper's landed. Anything you can do, I can do better.

Those are the only runs scored so far, but there have been other notable developments. Harper singled in his second at-bat and then aggressively tried to stretch it into a double, only to be thrown out by old pal Ben Revere. Revere was only in the game after Cameron Maybin injured his right leg sliding awkwardly into second base on a stolen base attempt.

Update II: Props to Edwin Jackson, who has done far better tonight than most would have predicted. He made it through the fifth having allowed only the Trout homer and Maybin single, then nothing else ... until the sixth when Martín Maldonado led off with a laser down the left field line for a tiebreaking home run. The Nationals, who haven't been able to muster much else against Jesse Chavez tonight (besides Harper, who is 3-for-3), now trail 2-1 heading to the seventh.

Update III: But wait, Anthony Rendon to the rescue. Rendon led off the seventh with a moonshot to left field, tying this game back up at 2-2. It was his 20th homer of the season, one shy of his career high. And if you go back over his last 162 games, Rendon now has 33 homers, 119 RBIs and 43 doubles. He's pretty good, huh?

Update IV: You think Harper is a little motivated tonight? He just led off the eighth with a hustle triple down the right field line, making him 4-for-4 and a very close call away from the cycle. And thanks to Ryan Zimmerman's subsequent laser back up the middle, Harper scored to give the Nats a 3-2 lead in the eighth. Jackson did his part with seven innings of three-hit ball on 91 pitches, and now it's time for the new-look bullpen to do its thing. Ryan Madson will pitch the bottom of the eighth trying to protect a one-run lead.

Update V: Well, Madson did his part. He retired the side in the eighth on 15 pitches, striking out Maldonado on a 97 mph fastball to end it. Wow, nice debut. So it remains 3-2 heading to the ninth, and Sean Doolittle is now warming, with Trout looming at the fourth hitter in the bottom of the inning.

Update VI: And there you have it. After Adam Lind provided an insurance homer in the top of the ninth, Doolittle came out of the 'pen to pitch the bottom of the ninth. He got off to a ragged start, walking Nick Franklin on four pitches. And after getting Revere on a ground ball, he served up a double to Kole Calhoun off the right field (the first hit all year by a lefty off Doolittle). That brought Trout to the plate representing the tying run. Trout got one run home, but his broken bat grounder to short accounted for the second out of the inning. And when Doolittle got Albert Pujols to fly out to left, the Nationals secured a very tense 4-3 victory.