Wieters on DL stint, Severino starts versus Braves

ATLANTA -- Starting catcher Matt Wieters has a mild left oblique strain and has been place on the 10-day disabled list. Nationals manager Davey Martinez said the injury was suffered in the fifth inning of Wieters last game against the Reds.

"We don't want to take a chance," Martinez said. "He's got a very slight, mild strain in his oblique. Rather than let it become a really big issue, we figured we'd give it the 10 days and get it taken care of and get him going again."

Wieters said he had felt slight tightness in his oblique at the end of spring training.

"I actually battled a little bit at the end of spring training, just some left side tightness and we worked through it and got it to where it was feeling good every day and we were continuing to see a progression but it was just kind of going slower than we wanted too," he said.

With the club only one series into the season, the 31-year-old said the main reason to quickly get him on the disabled list was so they get ahead of the injury early on.

"In the first two games it kind of reverted a little bit to what we were feeling in spring training and it's kind of because of where we're at in the year ... let's not risk a six-week thing with something that we can knock out here with hopefully not too long of a DL stint and be ready to go from there on," Wieters reasoned.

Martinez agreed how important it was to be careful with oblique-type injuries, especially in catchers.

"I think he's going to be ok here in a week or so," Martinez said. "He said he feels really good, but like I say, we want to nip it in the bud before it becomes a big problem."

The game plan for now is not full shut down for Wieters.

"I'm not going to swing for a few days but I'm doing a lot of strengthening and stuff like that right now," Wieters said. "So it's a ton of work out, stretching, strengthening to kind of get some of the muscles firing that will protect it a little bit. That will probably be the plan for this series here and we'll see where we're at when we get back to DC as far as picking up a bat again."

As a switch-hitter, when did Wieters first feel the oblique strain?

"It's weird, finish left-handed, right-handed the start of the swing," Wieters said. "It was something I was able to swing through but a lot of the work we put in during spring training, being able to get into my legs and swing like I wanted too this spring, I wasn't able to do because I wasn't able to really drive with the backside left-handed.

"That's kind of like ok we're in game 2, we want to be able to take some of the things we've done in spring training and bring it into the season. So, let's get back to being able to move like we want to be able to move and go from there."

The Nationals recalled catcher Pedro Severino from Triple-A Syracuse. Severino has played in 35 Major League games since 2015. Severino thought he was headed to upstate New York as late as Sunday.

"I just packed my bag yesterday just to get ready to go to Syracuse and after I leave, they called me and told me I have to come here to Atlanta," Severino said. "But I don't even know what happened yet. I just got here yesterday night."

Severino wasn't surprised the Nats put him right in the starting lineup when he arrived today.

"They know I love to play," Severino said. "They know i'm ready every time they ask me, I'm right there. I think it's a lefty pitcher for them today so (Miguel) Montero lefty they put me in the lineup. I know (tonight's starter) Tanner Roark a lot."

Montero won the backup catcher job coming out of spring training. Severino, 24, said he took the news and now is concentrating on trying to get better each time he plays, regardless of the level.

"We fight for the job, Montero and me, and they told me they're going to the veteran guy," Severino said. "I did a great job, I just said it's fine. I have to keep working until they need me and be ready. Then this happened to Wieters ... it's also nothing big and he's coming back soon."

Wieters hit just 1-for-7 with two walks in the Nats first two games. Severino has hit .246 with four doubles, two homers and seven RBIs in those 35 games.