WASHINGTON (AP) -The Washington Nationals shuffled their rotation again Wednesday, putting right-hander Jerome Williams back on the disabled list with a tear in his shoulder and moving Micah Bowie from the bullpen into Williams’ starting spot.
Williams, 0-5 with a 7.20 ERA this season, had an MRI exam Wednesday after shoulder problems forced him out of Tuesday night’s 6-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the third inning. He has a partially torn labrum and won’t throw for 10-14 days.
“I woke up this morning and it was sore. Went to the doctor – sore,” Williams said. “A real tired feeling and real sore.”
He had been on the disabled list with a left ankle injury but was activated so he could start Tuesday.
“It’s like, ‘What else is going to happen?’ But I really can’t think that way,” Williams said.
He joins right-handers John Patterson (sore right elbow and biceps) and Shawn Hill (right elbow and left shoulder) as members of last-place Washington’s opening-day rotation who are now on the DL.
Patterson tossed balls about 75 feet Wednesday and “threw easy,” team doctor Ben Shaffer said. “He could start really throwing the end of next week.”
Hill could start soft-tossing next week, Shaffer said.
“It’s just tough,” manager Manny Acta said. “Hopefully, Hill and Patterson will be back soon enough so we don’t have to be that long trying to stop gaps.”
Acta already had to turn to reliever Levale Speigner to make his first big league start Wednesday night against the Atlanta Braves. Now Bowie, a left-hander, will shift from relief, pitching Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles in his first start in the majors since Sept. 29, 1999, when he was with the Chicago Cubs.
“You get a chance to take the ball and start a game, that’s an awesome thing,” said Bowie, 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA in 20 appearances this season. “For me as a pitcher, it’s something I loved doing for most of my career, and I think it’s something you always strive for.”
He threw nearly 50 pitches in a relief outing Tuesday, and Acta said Bowie could get up to about 75 pitches Sunday.
Bowie will be replaced in the bullpen by left-hander Billy Traber, whose contract was purchased from Triple-A Columbus on Wednesday. To make room on the 40-man roster for Traber, the Nationals transferred first baseman Nick Johnson from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL.
“Traber, at the end of the season last year, did a good job coming out of the bullpen,” Acta said. “Also, he is very resilient. He is able to pitch almost every day if he has to. We see him in the future as a situational lefty.”
In other Nationals injury news:
– Right-handed reliever Luis Ayala, who missed all of 2006 after elbow surgery, threw 16 pitches at extended spring training Tuesday with no pain and the plan is for him to toss one inning Friday and two Monday. “We’re kind of taking it slow,” Shaffer said.
– Johnson is “making good progress … building up strength and building up endurance,” Shaffer said.
– Left-hander Mike O’Connor (elbow surgery) is throwing live bullpen sessions in Florida and could get into a game in extended spring training in June.
– Outfielder Alex Escobar (shoulder surgery) threw Wednesday from 105 feet and a mid-June rehab assignment is realistic, Shaffer said.
– Right-hander Ryan Wagner (rotator cuff inflammation) still has some irritation and won’t start throwing “until that’s completely resolved,” Shaffer said.
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