Hudson should be ready to throw off mound before Strasburg

Davey Martinez had to get creative with his bullpen in order to win Wednesday's wild, 13-12 game in Philadelphia, ultimately asking Austin Voth, Tanner Rainey and Paolo Espino to record the final six outs.

That's because closer Brad Hand was unavailable after pitching four of the previous five days, and because Daniel Hudson remains on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his right elbow. And it's still going to be a little while before Hudson is back on the active roster pitching in high-leverage spots late in games.

Though he's been playing catch in the outfield in recent days before games, the veteran setup man has yet to start throwing off a mound, and Martinez said there's no firm timetable yet for that to happen.

"We've got to be really careful with Huddy because of his past injuries," the manager said this afternoon during his pregame Zoom session with reporters from Miami. "We want to make sure that when he does get on the mound, he's ready to go."

Hudson has been out since June 10, having now missed two full weeks. Given his history - he twice had Tommy John surgery before ever pitching for the Nationals - there was obvious concern when he first reported elbow inflammation. But Hudson himself has said the problem occurred in a different part of his elbow than the area that required his ligament replacements and was confident at the outset this would be a short stint on the IL.

Hudson does appear to be closer to returning than Stephen Strasburg, now three weeks into his recovery from nerve irritation in his neck. The veteran starter also has been throwing on flat ground over the last week and has ramped up to long-tossing from 150 feet, per Martinez.

The Nationals will continue to be extra cautious with Strasburg, though, given how his issues have cropped up several times this season.

"Stephen still has a ways to go, but he's throwing the ball a little better," Martinez said. "He's played long toss at about 150 feet. Good intensity. I know Huddy threw the ball the other day and actually threw the ball really well, I thought. He's going to go out and throw again today, and we'll see how he feels after today. Hopefully he'll be a lot sooner than Stephen will be to get on the mound. They're both progressing well. We'll see how quickly we can get them back."

Kyle Finnegan also currently resides on the 10-day IL with a strained right hamstring suffered during Sunday's game in Washington. The reliever has not begun throwing yet.

All of this has left the Nats bullpen in a precarious position at times in recent days, never more so than during Wednesday's crazy win. Because they needed to use seven of their nine relievers to get through that 4-hour, 19-minute game, there was some thought about calling up a fresh arm from Triple-A Rochester for tonight's series opener against the Marlins.

Ultimately, Martinez, pitching coach Jim Hickey and general manager Mike Rizzo felt they didn't need to make a transaction yet, believing Hand, Wander Suero, Jefry Rodriguez and others would be able to pitch in relief of Joe Ross tonight.

"We talked about it," Martinez said. "The big thing for us is that Joe Ross goes out there and gives us some length today. But I think we've got enough to cover. We didn't use Jefry yesterday, so he's available to pitch. Suero only faced one batter, so he's available to give us one-plus innings if need be. And then these other guys are going to go out and throw today - Hand, Rainey - and we'll see how they feel today."

* Left-hander Ben Braymer, who was designated for assignment last weekend, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Rochester, which keeps the pitching prospect in the organization but takes him off the 40-man roster.