Lee injury in ninth puts damper on otherwise clean game

JUPITER, Fla. - This was shaping up to be an entirely positive afternoon for the Nationals, who got three scoreless (and efficient) innings from Gio González and then five more scoreless innings from a parade of relievers to carry a 1-0 lead over the Cardinals into the bottom of the ninth at Roger Dean Stadium.

And then things took a decided turn for the worse.

St. Louis' Patrick Wisdom launched a game-tying home run to left to lead off the inning, leaving the game suddenly tied 1-1. Then to add injury to insult, left-hander Nick Lee suffered an apparent arm injury on his very next pitch after surrendering the homer.

Lee, a 26-year-old relief prospect trying to make a name for himself this spring, walked immediately off the field and to the clubhouse with head athletic trainer Paul Lessard as manager Dusty Baker summoned right-hander Taylor Hill from the bullpen to finish out the inning.

After the game, which was called still tied 1-1 at the conclusion of the ninth, Lee had his left elbow wrapped in ice in the clubhouse.

Baker said the team will attempt to arrange for an MRI on Sunday.

"We just hope that it's nothing," the manager said.

An 18th-round pick in the 2011 draft, Lee has slowly worked his way up the organizational depth chart and has positioned himself as a candidate for an in-season promotion if the Nationals need another left-handed reliever. He went 3-1 with a 4.32 ERA, 55 strikeouts and 42 walks in 50 innings at Double-A Harrisburg last season.

Lee's home run surrendered and subsequent injury put a damper on the afternoon, but most everything else that occurred in the game was positive for the Nationals, especially Gonzalez's outing.

The left-hander was slated to pitch only two innings in his second appearance of the spring, but with his pitch count at only 19 after the bottom of the second, he was able to return for another inning and wound up completing that frame with his pitch count still a mere 29 (18 strikes).

"That's a good sign, when he can get through the first couple innings on a low pitch count," Baker said. "That means he'll go deeper in games. He looked ready. He looked very ready."

González's lone blemishes were a leadoff walk to Dexter Fowler in the bottom of the first and a one-out single to Jedd Gyorko in the bottom of the second. In each instance, he immediately induced a double-play grounder.

"He has a good changeup, he has a good sinker and a curveball," Baker said. "If you keep the ball down, then you give our defense a chance. He threw some quality pitches to some pretty good hitters. He should be happy with his performance, because we are."

In four total innings this spring, González has yet to allow a run, has surrendered one hit and one walk and has thrown only 43 pitches.

"I had a good opportunity to get some groundball outs (today), the lefty said. "Guys made some great plays and got me through the inning real quick. (Catcher Pedro Severino) saw that, picked up the tempo and we just went with it."