Zimmerman understands role as he returns from DL stint

The Nationals reinstated first baseman Ryan Zimmerman from the disabled list on Friday, but he was not in the lineup for the first game of their series against the second-place Braves. Matt Adams got the start at first base and batted sixth in the order against veteran right-hander Aníbal Sánchez. Zimmerman had been on the DL with a right oblique strain.

Zimmerman is a career .208 (11-for-53) against Sánchez; Adams has never faced him. But Nationals manager Davey Martinez said it was more about how hot Adams has been against right-handers this season that got him the nod instead of Zimmerman. Adams is hitting .294 with 14 homers and 33 RBIs in 67 games this season against right-handers.

Martinez said he will find a way to get Zimmerman in the game tonight as a pinch-hitter or later in the lineup as a starter as the Nats continue to roll through the second-half schedule.

"He is going to play," Martinez said of Zimmerman. "I mean Matt Adams, he's pretty much killing right-handers right now. He deserves to play. I talked to Zim and he's going to come off the bench today. Lefty in the game, we'll plop him in somehow. We got a lefty tomorrow, so he'll play and we'll go from there. He gets it. We talked and he said, 'However we can help the team win.' He's all in. When he gets hot, of course, he can carry us. As soon as he starts to get going and gets his feet on the ground, of course, he'll probably play a lot more.

"It's a good problem to have because you got all these guys you can plop in and pay every day. But we wanted to make sure because Matt Adams is swinging the bat well that he gets his reps right now."

Zimmerman returned after a solid three-game rehab stint in the minor leagues where he hit .444 with a double, a homer, two walks and two RBIs.

"Yeah, everything's good, feel good," Zimmerman said. "Ready to go. Just happy to be back. I got a lot of action. Got a lot of things out of the way, which is what you always want. You don't always get to do all that stuff, so it was a very successful three games and felt really good."

Zimmerman is not disappointed that Adams got the start tonight and understands at this point in his career that a platoon is likely. Zimmerman knows that Martinez will go with the hot hand.

"Yeah, I think the past couple of years, we've signed a really good hitting left-handed guy to complement me over there," Zimmerman said. " At the end of the day, it's just about winning games. I think you guys know me - as long as we win games and do what we need to do, whether it's me doing it, Matty doing it, Mark (Reynolds) doing it. That's kind of the here on out. We just got to worry about winning games."

The Nats begin the secnd half of the season against the Braves, who are five games ahead of the Nats for second place in the National League East.

"I think every series from here on out is a big series," Zimmerman said. "We didn't do ourselves any favors with the way we played in the first half, but at the same time, we are fortunate to be in the position that we are in. I think that we could be further out of it. So we just got kind of take every series, whether we are playing guys that are in our division, other guys. Got to try and win every series.

"Technically, it is bigger cause you have the team that is in front of you, you can kind of control the situation. When you play these guys or the Phillies, it's obviously going to be huge, but with the situation we are in, honestly, every series is a big series."