Perez starts in center as Nats rest Span

By Bill Ladson and Andrew Simon

May 14, 2013

LOS ANGELES -- Nationals manager Davey Johnson decided to give Denard Span the day off on Tuesday and start Eury Perez in center field against the Dodgers.

Left-hander Clayton Kershaw started for the Dodgers and Johnson wanted to give Perez at least one start this week. Perez could be sent back to Triple-A Syracuse once Jayson Werth is taken off the disabled list.

Perez, ranked No. 7 among the team's top prospects, was promoted to the big leagues this past Saturday after Werth was placed on the DL because of a hamstring injury.

Entering Tuesday's action, Perez has appeared in two games and has been hitless in one at-bat. Before the promotion, Perez was having a great year for Syracuse, where he was hitting .346 with six RBI and seven stolen bases.

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. Andrew Simon is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @HitTheCutoff.