Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats drop season opener with Reds, 8-2; Nick Senzel fractures thumb before game…

Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ season-opening loss to the Reds…

SENZEL INJURED BEFORE OPENER:

Nick Senzel talked in a Zoom call with reporters after signing on in Washington this winter about returning to Cincinnati, where he played five seasons for the Reds who drafted him 2nd overall in 2016, for his first series with his new team.

“I have nothing but love there,” the Nationals’ 28-year-old infielder said of his time in Cincy.

“It’s going to be fun going back and seeing the fans and being at the stadium. Might as well get it out of the way opening weekend.

“Just excited to compete against those guys, after I played with them so long.”

Unfortunately for Senzel, who dealt with a variety of injuries during his time with the Reds, his 2024 Opening Day ended before it got started.

Senzel suffered a fractured right thumb taking grounders before the game, was scratched from the lineup, and is headed for the IL.

“The blow right before our game today really stung a little bit,” manager Davey Martinez said after what ended up an 8-2 loss in Game 1 of 162.

“Nick fractured his right thumb. So he’s going to be out for a little bit,” Martinez continued.

“So that was kind of a bad situation. He took a bad hop during BP.”

The seventh-year manager talked to Senzel, to tell him to keep his head up and put in work while he heals up.

“I told him, ‘Hey, I know how you’re feeling right now, but hang in there,’” Martinez said.

“‘You got to be positive and you’ve got to stay ready. He can do a lot to stay ready. Keep his legs in shape, keep his core in shape.

“Obviously he can’t swing the bat yet, or field, or anything like that, but as soon as he’s able to do that kind of stuff we’re going to get him out there and try to get him ready as soon as possible.”

The injury happening when it did was a particularly cruel blow.

“It’s awful. He was in a good spot, and we were in a good spot with him,” Martinez said of the infielder, who signed a 1-year/$2M free agent deal this winter.

“He was excited for today, and just a freak accident. We’re going to miss him, but he’s going to work really hard to get back as soon as possible.”

Hours earlier, Martinez talked about how well Senzel was fitting in with his new club.

“He’s been awesome,” the skipper said in his pregame press conference. “He really has.

“He does really well over there at third base, so we’re going to keep him there every day. We worked on some things with his hitting to be more consistent.

“He started swinging the bat really well at the end of Spring Training, so we’re excited that he’s here. He brings a lot of energy and a lot of passion to this team.”

With Senzel out of action, Trey Lipscomb, one of the Nats’ last cuts from the roster before the opener, is reportedly headed out to Cincinnati, after he was optioned to minor league camp at the end of Spring Training.

Martinez wasn’t ready to officially announce the move to replace Senzel when he spoke after the game.

“I’m going to sit with [GM Mike Rizzo] after we meet here,” he said, “… and we’ll come up with a plan. I know [Ildemaro] Vargas is suitable to play third base, but we definitely need another body.

“So we’re going to sit back and see what we can do.”

Though there was no opportunity to put their plan into action, the Nationals were going to have Lipscomb, the organization’s 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, and a Rawlings Minor League Gold Glove award winner last season, playing predominantly at third base, play all around the infield in the minors so he would be ready to play wherever he was needed this season.

“We’re going to get him to play second base, but I also do want him to play some shortstop just in case, and maybe once a week play some third base as well,” Martinez said before the opener yesterday.

Will Lipscomb get a shot to play third every day(-ish) with the injury to Senzel, who was set to play third every day(-ish) this season?

JOSIAH GRAY’S NOT SO GREAT OPENING DAY:

“He’s amped up,” Davey Martinez said before Josiah Gray took the mound against the team that picked him in the second round of the 2018 draft, in the Nationals’ season opener with the Reds yesterday in Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park.

“I just told him, ‘Hey, get to the next pitch and be where your feet are.’ So, he’s going to go out there and attack the strike zone,” Martinez continued, “… and I told him, ‘Keep us in the game as long as you can.”

Gray worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first, but Washington’s 26-year-old starter gave up leadoff and one-out singles in the second, the latter an RBI hit, then a two-run home run on a 2-1 cutter up in the zone inside to Reds’ DH Nick Martini, who hit the first of his two home runs off the starter 405 feet to right-center field to make it 3-0 in the home team’s favor.

An RBI double, and Martini’s second shot, a 389-foot, three-run homer to right-center, on a hanging curve this time, added to the lead as the Reds went up 7-0 after three.

A 1-2-3 fourth, which left Gray at 80 pitches total, ended his outing in what was an 8-2 loss in the end.

“One bad pitch in both [innings], it really cost him,” Martinez said of Gray’s outing after the game.

“But he’s got to attack. He’s got to stay in attack mode. He’s got good stuff. So, I’m not down on him by any means. It’s just one day.

“I know he’ll come back strong his next outing. I told him already, ‘Hey, put this one behind you, learn from it, and let’s move on.”

Gray did generate 15 swinging strikes on the day, with six Ks from the 22 batters he faced, and he got 14 called strikes overall. Those two pitches to Martini though…

“It’s easy to look at those at-bats [to Martini] and the damage that was done,” Gray said, as quoted by Nationals.com’s Jessica Camerato:

“But in all honesty, every pitch that [catcher] Keibert [Ruiz] called, I felt confident in, and threw it in the zones that we wanted to throw it in. They did some damage with some other batters. It’s easy to look at the damage, and you kind of chalk it up as, ‘It is what it is.’ He got to the pitches, and I’ve just got to be better next time.”

While Gray and his manager were hoping he would keep the team in the game as long as he could, it didn’t go his way.

“I failed to do that today, but I think we all know how we’re going to come back in two days and bounce back.”

“Overall, look, it was his first Opening Day,” Martinez said, summing up his starter’s outing.

“We get him settled down — walked two guys, which is not bad. One was a borderline call. But we got to put this one behind us and come back Saturday and go 1-0.”