Nats place lefty reliever Parker on IL, await results of MRI

BOSTON – The Nationals are awaiting the MRI results on left-hander Mitchell Parker, who exited Sunday’s game in Baltimore following a sudden plummet in velocity. Parker was placed on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation on Monday before the series opener against the Red Sox.

“Mentally, he’s pretty bummed out given what happened,” manager Blake Butera said. “He got some imaging done; we’re still waiting on the results from that. Hopefully, we hear some positive news. But with it being the elbow, [we] absolutely need to make sure we’re taking care of him. We thought putting him on the IL was the right decision.”

Parker had pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning against the Orioles in Sunday’s 6-4 win. He went back out for the seventh, and he opened the frame by striking out the first two batters. Then he allowed a single, a home run and a walk.

As soon as the ball left Parker’s hand to what would be his final batter, anyone watching could tell something was wrong. He flexed his hand, appearing to be in some discomfort after delivering a 94.7 mph four-seam fastball to Taylor Ward for the second ball of Ward’s plate appearance. The next two pitches Parker threw – both balls, for a four-pitch walk –were also four-seam fastballs, though they registered at 90.3 mph and 89.1 mph.

“At the end of the day, I thought the stuff, it was the best we’d seen,” Butera said. “I don’t know if that was a result of him trying to do more. It’s also not the first time I’ve seen someone get hurt the same time their stuff looked really good. It’s unfortunate. But he said he felt great up until those last couple of pitches.”

Parker, who entered the league as a starter, transitioned to the bullpen this season. He is 3-3 with a 6.58 ERA and one save in 39 2/3 innings (22 games).

The Nationals will have to adjust their bullpen strategy as Butera likes to manage to matchups. In addition to Parker, fellow left-hander Richard Lovelady also was placed on the IL on Monday. Lovelady is dealing with a left triceps strain. Washington recalled southpaw Carson Palmquist and right-hander Riley Cornelio from Triple-A Rochester to fill their spots.

“We’re traditionally almost always going to lean on left-handers to get left-handers out,” Butera said. “At the end of the day, if we don’t have a left-hander available, we’ll go to our right-hander with the best stuff to get them out – whether that’s Clayton Beeter, [Orlando] Ribalta; [Justin] Lawrence has looked pretty good.

“We’ll give some right-handers some opportunities because we only have two left-handers in the ‘pen right now. So we’ll have to find out what we have from right-handers.”