Martinez on plan for Zimmerman, plus other notes (Nats win 10-6)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Now that he's finally in the lineup, has Nationals manager Davey Martinez devised a plan for how much first baseman Ryan Zimmerman will play for the rest of camp?

He has, and though he'll discuss it with Zimmerman later today, Martinez doesn't sound like he'll be deviating from what he's planned for the veteran. So far, he's not talking in specifics.

"No, like I said, as long as he's good, I want him to participate and play games," Martinez said.

Zimmerman was supposed to play his first game against Grapefruit League competition on Wednesday, but was scratched with an illness and sent home from camp. It took him a couple of days to recover and he went through a full day of workouts in camp yesterday without any problems.

"He went through the workout yesterday, was able to hold some food down," Martinez said. "Hydrated. He feels good this morning, so he's going to go."

Martinez hopes to get three or four innings from Zimmerman today against the Twins. Hopefully, the manager said, that will translate into two at-bats (which, coincidentally, is the exact amount of ABs Zimmerman got in major league games last spring, when he did most of his work on the minor league side of camp).

"Get out there, get down, get ready," Martinez said. "Move laterally, play some defense, see the ball off the bat. Stuff of that nature."

* Closer Sean Doolittle has left camp to deal with a family emergency, Martinez said.

* Second baseman Brian Dozier is only 1-for-7 this spring, but Martinez is liking what he's seen from him. Most important to the manager, the significant bone bruise that hampered Dozier for much of last season is gone and he's playing without pain.

Between the Twins and Dodgers last season, Dozier slashed only .215/.305/.391. Entering the season, he was a career .252/.327/.452 hitter.

"I think it's important that his knee is really good right now. ... He had that health issue - his knee bothered him the whole year last year - and he's a tough cookie," Martinez said. "I mean, he didn't complain about it, gripe about it. He went out there and played. But I'm glad we monitored him and checked with him, and he says he feels good. He's doing a lot of stuff to keep it strengthened. I think you'll see the old Dozier now that he's healthy."

Update: Patrick Corbin is out after three innings, with Justin Miller on for his first relief outing of spring. Corbin went three innings, allowed an unearned run on two hits and struck out one. He threw 35 pitches, 25 for strikes.

Ryan Zimmerman is also done for the day after going 0-for-2. He fielded everything that came his way, making three putouts and a nifty grab of a sharp grounder by Alex Kirillof to end the second.

Shortstop Carter Kieboom's error led to an unearned run in the first for a 1-0 Twins lead. In the second, Michael A. Taylor's RBI single tied it, and in the third, Juan Soto's run-scoring triple into the right field corner put the Nats up.

Update II: Miller allowed a two-run double to Ronald Torreyes and the Twins took a 3-2 lead in the fourth.

Update III: With two down in the fourth, Wilmer Difo reached on a throwing error, then scored on Kieboom's double to left. Adam Eaton plated Kieboom for a 4-3 Nats lead.

Update IV: Make that 6-3 Nats after Kurt Suzuki's two-run blast to left in the fifth.

Update V: James Bourque gave up a double to Lucas Duda ahead of Willians Astudillo's home run in the sixth. The Nats now lead 6-5.

Update VI: Sammy Solís surrendered a run on two hits in the eighth as the Twins tied the score 6-6.

Update VII: Brandon Snyder's grand slam to left center in the bottom of the eighth put the Nats back on top 10-6.

Final update: Henderson Álvarez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Luke Raley to end the game. Nats win 10-6.