Reynolds makes fourth straight start at third (Nats down 5-0)

MIAMI - Mark Reynolds has played more games in his career at third base than any other position, but the vast majority of those games came early in his career with the Diamondbacks and Orioles, a full decade ago.

Reynolds didn't spend a moment at third base in either 2016 or 2017 with the Rockies, and whatever playing time he has received with the Nationals this season has almost exclusively come at first base. Until this weekend.

With Anthony Rendon away from the club for the entire series against the Marlins - after spending the maximum allowable three days on the paternity leave list following the birth of his daughter Thursday, Rendon has now been transferred to the family medical leave list - third base has been left to Reynolds to man for a critical series at Marlins Park.

And it hasn't been an uneventful series for Reynolds in the field. Ten balls have been hit to him at third base, and there may not have been a truly routine ball among them.

There was a chopper in the seventh inning Friday night that Reynolds bobbled and then threw away, leading to a rare call of two errors on a single play. But there also were multiple highlight-worthy plays Saturday night, including a diving snag of a line drive to his right that wound up making the "SportsCenter" Top 10 this morning.

"He's been good," manager Davey Martinez said. "I know he's made some tough errors, but he's been good. When you're missing a premium player like Anthony and you've got a guy like Mark that can fill in, that's pretty good."

In other pregame news ...

* Stephen Strasburg's 72-hour waiting period following a nerve-block injection in his neck ends later today. If the right-hander feels well and is cleared by doctors, he could resume throwing Monday. Strasburg, who returned to the disabled list Thursday only one start removed from his six-week DL stint for shoulder inflammation, was optimistic Saturday he'd be back pitching for the Nationals soon.

* Sean Doolittle is scheduled to receive a follow-up MRI on Monday on his injured left foot, the results of which should determine the reliever's next course of action. Doolittle, who has a stress reaction in the foot, has been finding creative ways to play catch (such as doing it while taking a knee) to keep pressure off his foot while on the DL. If the MRI shows improvement in the stress reaction, he could be allowed to return to a normal throwing program.

Update: This game hasn't started out the way the Nationals would have liked. They've put five runners on base in three innings versus José Ureña, but have yet to score any of them. Spencer Kieboom came up with two on and one out in the second and immediately grounded into a double play on the first pitch. Matt Adams came up with two on and two out in the third and popped up on the second pitch.

The Marlins, on the other hand, have done a nice job executing in key situations so far against Jeremy Hellickson. They got three straight two-out hits from the bottom of their lineup in the second inning, with Urena himself driving in the game's first run on a single up the middle. And then they got a two-out RBI double from Martín Prado in the third inning, a drive to deep center field that Bryce Harper couldn't quite reach. So the Nats trail 2-0 after three and have some work to do.

Update II: Things really turned ugly in the bottom of the fifth. Hellickson was one pitch away from getting out of it clean, but he gave up a two-out RBI single to Prado. Martinez summoned Matt Grace from the bullpen, but then Daniel Murphy botched a grounder to second that would've ended the inning, letting another run score. And then Miguel Rojas lined a double down the left-field line, the Marlins' fourth two-out RBI hit of the afternoon. The Nationals trail 5-0 after five and are in trouble.