Glover lands on DL with hip injury, Matt Grace called up from Syracuse

DENVER - The Nationals announced that right-hander Koda Glover has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with a left hip impingement.

The club has called up left-hander Matt Grace from Triple-A Syracuse.

"Had a little mishap last night," Glover said. "I think I landed wrong or something. A little pinch in the hip. It's just a precautionary thing. We talked about it. I'm good. I'm staying on top of my therapy. It's just one of those things where it's more important late than it is early right now, so we're just kind of focused on that."

Manager Dusty Baker agreed with Glover about the need to have the 24-year-old for those August, September and, hopefully, late-into-October games.

"He said its nagging in a couple different areas," Baker said. "Figure nip it in the bud now. We are going to need Koda for the long run because he's never pitched a potential seven months of the season. So just trying to keep an eye on these things. Cold weather probably didn't help last night. He didn't want to go on the DL. We think it's best for him, and what's best for him is also what's best for us."

Glover came into the game Tuesday night in the seventh inning. The Rockies reeled off a single, a double and a long fly ball out to score two runs. He then induced a couple of ground balls to get out of the frame. In the first at-bat against DJ LeMahieu, he felt the hip impingement.

"First pitch. It just kind of lit me up a little bit," Glover detailed. "I think it had to do with cold weather, getting up, down and stuff like that up in the bullpen. First pitch lit me up. After that, it was just kind of aggravating. I think the cold weather had a lot to do with it. I'll just be on the 10-day, and be ready after that."

The Nationals turn to southpaw Matt Grace, who arrived from Syracuse yesterday. It appears the Nats would have activated Grace during this series anyway, possibly in place of Jacob Turner. But when the injury to Glover occurred, they put Grace in for him.

"We knew that we were going to have to call a plane for him or somebody else," Baker said. "Syracuse to here is not that easy to get into. You have to almost hedge your bet that you are going to need him. It's not like the Atlanta Braves or something when you're in the same town as your minor league team. That's a definite luxury. Had we been home in Washington, D.C., then that's a pretty short plane."

The Nationals like Grace's stuff because he is a sinkerball pitcher.

"He's a guy that's a left-handed pitcher that throws, generally, breaking balls down, but this club is an up-swinging club," Baker said. "You got to kind of pitch this club up some, more than you would other teams, even though that seems contrary to this ballpark. We need Gracie. We knew we were going to need an arm here. We just didn't know when."

Grace said he feels confident coming up again and has gotten into a nice rhythm with Syracuse, except for a rare start that didn't go his way.

"I feel pretty good. Feel good with where I'm at," Grace said. "Keeping the ball down. Sinkers going pretty well, so going to just try to stick with that. Actually had a start in Syracuse which didn't go too well. Kind of back to my dark days of minor league baseball, so had to battle through that one. But other than that, I've been feeling pretty good."

Grace knows it's all about his sinker and trying to induce weak contact.

"I know when my sinker is going, it's down in the zone, I'm getting ground balls at the high rate, then that's what makes me effective and that's what I have to stick to, and I know that," Grace said. "That's part of what makes me successful, for sure."

He also said he can eat up some innings if the Nats require him to stay in for more than three outs. Since the start April 12, Grace has appeared in three games without allowing a run.

"Control what you can control, attack down in the zone," Grace said. "Can't do anything about where the ball flies or anything like that. No reason to think about it other than just executing your pitches and do what you do."

Glover went through an extensive rehab in the offseason for a torn labrum in his hip. He had opted for the rehab instead of offseason surgery.

But he doesn't believe this injury will keep him on the shelf long at all.

"I'm extremely confident," Glover said. "I hadn't had any problems with my hips until last night. I think it being 30-something degrees had something to do with it. But yeah, I'm extremely confident that after this I'll get a little rest, get a little breather and be back in there."