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Taylor day to day after crashing into wall

Nats center fielder suffers knee contusion attempting to make leaping catch

WASHINGTON -- Nationals center fielder Michael Taylor exited Thursday's 4-2 win against the Padres because of a right knee contusion. He is listed as day to day.

With two outs in the seventh inning and the Nats leading, 3-1, Melvin Upton Jr. tripled to center field while Taylor crashed into the wall attempting to make the catch. Taylor hurt his right knee, and he was on the ground for a few minutes before he was helped off the field.

"He ran into that wall hard," manager Matt Williams said. "He went full speed -- as fast as he could go. It got him on the right knee pretty good."

Because of the injuries to Denard Span and Jayson Werth, Taylor has seen a lot of playing time this year. He's played great defense and has been up and down with the bat, hitting .241 with 13 home runs and 55 RBIs.

"It's tough to see a teammate go down," Werth said about Taylor. "But he plays hard. He is a good kid. He comes to the park, he prepares. He does all the things you want a young player to do. He has gone about it the right way. Unfortunately, it got him dinged up tonight. He is part of the family. We have a great group of guys and he is no exception."

Taylor was the second player to be hurt in Thursday's game. Yunel Escobar was hit by a pitch on the right hand during the fifth inning and exited before the top of the sixth.

Video: SD@WSH: Escobar gets hit by pitch, Werth scores

Bill Ladson is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, All Nats All the Time. He also can be found on Twitter @WashingNats.
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