Edwards could have left thumb sprain after tag play at second

WASHINGTON -- Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards exited with what could be a sprained left thumb in the bottom of the fifth inning of Sunday afternoon’s 6-2 win at Nationals Park.

“Right now we’re thinking it’s a left thumb sprain,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He’ll go tomorrow for some imaging, and we won’t really know a severity timeline until we get more information from the testing.”

Edwards was covering the bag as Jorbit Vivas stole second with a headfirst slide that appeared to catch Edwards’ glove arm.

Catcher Brian Navarreto’s throw bounded into shallow center field as Vivas scurried to third and Edwards removed his glove while grabbing at his arm in pain.

“I feel OK,” Edwards said postgame. “Vivas took off for the base. I was trying to catch it deep. I had a feeling the ball was kind of tailing, so it was taking me into the line. I tried to make a play on the pick and Rivas kind of beat me to it.”

Vivas was eventually doubled up off third on Harry Ford’s hard ground ball, but the Nats still took a 1-0 lead in the inning on Nasim Nuñez’s RBI double.

Edwards has played in every game this season for the Marlins, starting all but six of them at second base. He’s slashing .282/.361/.376, and on Friday, Edwards became the fourth Marlins player to reach 20 stolen bases this season.

Griffin Conine entered for Edwards and played first base. Leo Jiménez moved to third and Javier Sanoja shifted to second.