Robles out of lineup with sore knee, but able to take BP

Victor Robles is out of the Nationals lineup, his right knee still bothering him enough to keep him from starting against the Mets one day after he was struck by a pitch in Miami. It was not bothering the 24-year-old center fielder enough, though, to keep him from participating in batting practice, suggesting he may not need to miss much time.

Robles took a full round of BP with teammates, and though he wasn't moving around at full strength, he didn't appear to be significantly hindered.

"Victor's a little sore, a lot better than we thought he was going to be," manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "He's going to get treatment. He's going to move around, probably take some swings in the cage and he'll be available later on in the game, hopefully. We're going to get him out, he's going to run a little bit. But we hope he's available to come in the game to play defense or pinch-hit."

Robles was struck by a pitch from former Nats left-hander Ross Detwiler in the top of the seventh of Sunday's 5-1 win over the Marlins, the ball glancing off his left thigh and then getting him square on the inside of his right knee. Struggling to make it down the line to first base, he was pulled from the game and replaced by Gerardo Parra.

Parra is starting in center field tonight, but Robles appeared to be in an upbeat mood as he took the field for BP with teammates. All things considered, it doesn't appear the injury will sideline him for long.

Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg emerged from Sunday's light bullpen session in Miami feeling strong and should be ready to begin ramping up his rehab program from the neck injury that has kept him out since June 2.

Strasburg played catch on flat ground in the outfield before batting practice today. He walked past reporters standing near the dugout afterward without stopping to answer questions. He hasn't conducted an interview since after his May 27 start against the Reds, five days before his final start against the Braves landed him on the injured list.

"He was good," Martinez said of Sunday's 25-pitch bullpen session. "He came back good. He's playing long toss today. We'll see how he feels today, and then we'll go from there."

Daniel Hudson also is about ready to start throwing off a mound as he recovers from elbow inflammation. The right-hander has been playing catch in the outfield, but it appears his next step will be to take the bullpen mound Wednesday and test himself out throwing pitches.

"He's getting close to throwing a bullpen," Martinez said. "I'll talk to him today, but I'm thinking from what we talked about, he might throw a bullpen on Wednesday. We'll see how everything goes today, and we'll go from there."

Finally, Andrew Stevenson took swings off a tee today, the first time he's done that since landing on the IL with an oblique strain. The outfielder should be ready to begin taking full swings off a pitcher within a few days.