Thomas scratched, Gray threw bullpen (plus other notes)

Finally back home, the Nationals are feeling the effects of their 10-game road trip that took them to four different cities in 11 days.

Lane Thomas was scratched from manager Davey Martinez’s original lineup for tonight’s homestand opener against the Marlins after he still felt stiffness in his back. The right fielder was replaced by Alex Call in the seventh inning of yesterday’s loss to the Blue Jays after telling his manager he felt his back tighten up on him during the game, which Martinez said three days playing on artificial turf can do.

“We just scratched him,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “He's still a little bit tight, so I don't want to take a chance. He's gonna get worked on and hopefully, he's available to pinch-hit.”

Everyone else in the lineup moved up the order, putting Joey Meneses in Thomas’ usual No. 2 spot behind leadoff man CJ Abrams. Against Marlins lefty Braxton Garrett, the Nats have Jake Alu in left field, Jacob Young in center and Alex Call in right.

Martinez wasn’t prepared to definitely announce his lineup during his pregame press conference, but he was prepared to announce Josiah Gray will start Sunday’s finale after the right-hander threw his routine bullpen session today.

The skipper said yesterday in Toronto he wanted to watch Gray’s bullpen before making a final decision on Sunday’s starter. If he or pitching coach Jim Hickey saw any “red flags” with Gray, they would have bumped his start and either pitched MacKenzie Gore on normal rest or use a bullpen game against the Marlins.

But Gray’s bullpen session was good enough for the Nats to move forward with him starting Sunday as he tries to start September on the right foot and forget about his August, in which he went 0-3 with an 8.44 ERA and failed to complete four innings in three of his five starts. He was pulled after four runs on four hits and four walks in 63 pitches over only two innings on Monday.

“His direction,” Martinez said of what he was looking for in Gray’s bullpen. “His direction was off last time from what we saw. Today in the bullpen it was spot on. He threw a lot of different things. His fastball was electric. Two-seamer was good. His changeup was really, really good, so I encouraged him to throw it a little bit more in this next outing. His cutter was good as well. He looked great.”

Meanwhile, Gore no longer was an option for Sunday after he was placed on the bereavement list and the Nationals recalled left-hander Joe La Sorsa to the active roster. La Sorsa has a 6.61 ERA and 1.286 WHIP in 15 outings for the Nats since being claimed off waivers from the Rays in June.

“For a while there, we had those three lefties,” Martinez said of the decision to select the southpaw. “I kind of like that to have those three lefties out there. Yeah, so Joe's that guy where you could put him in against left-handed hitting or you can stretch him out, he could give you multiple innings as well. So I like that as well.”

* Tanner Rainey will throw on back-to-back days for the first time tonight at Triple-A Rochester. He will likely throw again two or three days afterward. The Nationals are still being cautious with his recovery from Tommy John surgery and don’t want to rush him back to a major league mound.

Thaddeus Ward threw a bullpen session today and is scheduled to pitch again Tuesday. Where he will pitch next week is still to be determined.

Neither sound like they are ready to come up as rosters expand to 28 players tomorrow.