WASHINGTON -- The Nationals are set to call up left-hander Shinnosuke Ogasawara to start their series finale vs. the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park, manager Dave Martinez announced after Saturday’s 10-3 loss.
The move comes after righty Trevor Williams -- whose turn in the rotation would have been Sunday -- was placed on the injured list on Friday with a right elbow sprain. Ryan Loutos is expected to be optioned back to Triple-A Rochester as the corresponding move.
Washington signed Ogasawara toward the end of January, and he became the Nats’ first free agent signed directly from Asia and the first Nationals player from Japan. Sunday will be his Major League debut.
Ogasawara began the year at Rochester before dealing with an oblique injury. After a few games at the Rookie level and High-A Wilmington, he was activated off the 7-day Minors IL on June 28.
“He understood what he needed to do before he got hurt, he was throwing pretty, pretty well,” Martinez said. “So you know, he got hurt, he’s coming back -- like I said, he’s throwing the ball well. We’ll get him here tomorrow; we’ll see what happens.”
As Ogasawara hasn’t started since he was activated, he’ll be well-rested to face the Red Sox -- who have scored a combined 21 runs over the first two games of the three-game series.