Worth noting

• Jose Tabata wore an air splint -- and the imprint of baseball stitches from a 95-mph fastball -- on the right forearm that stopped a Fernando Abad pitch in the ninth inning on Wednesday. Josh Harrison got the start in right field, but Hurdle felt Tabata, who had more difficulty throwing, could swing the bat off the bench.

Tabata pinch-hit in the ninth inning of Thursday's 9-7 loss to the Nats and struck out swinging. But Harrison was the Bucs' star hitter, going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and a game-tying two-run single in the ninth. His home run was the fifth of his career and his second off Gonzalez.

• Closer Jason Grilli (forearm discomfort) continues to be medically evaluated in Pittsburgh. According to Hurdle: "We hope to have all the information by the end of the week to make an informative read of where we go next."

• Lefty Wandy Rodriguez had his "best of three throwing days" when he made about 60 flat-ground tosses from a distance of 80 feet on Wednesday, Hurdle said.

No timetable yet for Rodriguez's return to mound work, but Hurdle said, "He's heading in that direction. It was the best he felt mentally and physically. He was very encouraged."

Rodriguez went on the DL with forearm tightness on June 11, and the plug was pulled on his rehab assignment when he still felt discomfort in a late-June start. Subsequent to that, he was given an injection of platelet rich plasma.