If his right arm isn’t healed in time for his next start Ben Banogu Jersey , maybe Vince Velasquez can pitch with his left.


Hit on his pitching arm by a line drive, Velasquez made a dazzling throw with his left hand, and Philadelphia overcame an early injury to its starting pitcher to beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Saturday night.

”It is well-known he is one of our best all-around athletes,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. ”You just would never predict that.”

Velasquez was struck in the forearm by Adam Eaton’s liner in the second inning. He dropped his glove, hustled to retrieve the ball as it deflected toward third base, and unleashed a strong toss with his opposite arm that nipped the speedy Eaton at first for the final out.

”I tried to finish the play,” Velasquez said.

The Phillies pitcher actually spent his junior season in high school as a lefty-throwing center fielder due to bone chips in his pitching arm that prevented him from taking the mound.

And on Friday night, Velasquez startled Phillies first baseman Carlos Santana by throwing a ball to him left-handed from the dugout in between innings.

”Kind of warmed up for that play today,” Velasquez joked.

So, Velasquez knew he could throw left-handed – he just didn’t know if he could make an accurate toss.

”I actually surprised myself throwing a strike right there,” he said.

After completing the play, Velasquez then dropped to the ground, writhing in pain and clutching his right arm. He was pulled from the game with a bruise Parris Campbell Jersey , having allowed one run and three hits.

X-rays were negative, a better result than he anticipated.

”I thought something was broken,” he said. ”Thanks to God, nothing is severe.”

Kapler said Velasquez would be further evaluated on Sunday. The pitcher said it was ”up in the air” whether he would be able to take his next turn in the rotation.

”We’ll see how it feels,” he said.

Victor Arano (1-0) followed Velasquez with two scoreless innings.

Odubel Herrera homered and Jorge Alfaro and Aaron Altherr had RBI doubles as the Phillies bounced back from a 17-7 loss. Anthony Rendon homered for the Nationals, who went deep seven times in Friday night’s romp at Citizens Bank Park, but managed just eight hits against six Philadelphia pitchers.

”I thought we were going to score more than two runs after yesterday’s performance,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. ”We had our chances.”

Yacksel Rios kept Philadelphia in front by getting out of a jam in the eighth. After Adam Morgan allowed the first two runners to reach on a single and a walk, Rios entered and got Rendon to line out to right, Juan Soto to pop out and Mark Reynolds to ground out.

Rookie Seranthony Dominguez pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save in his eighth chances. Dominguez retired the first two batters before pinch-hitter Daniel Murphy doubled to right, but the right-hander retired Eaton on a flyball.

”Cool as a cucumber,” Kapler said. ”A special performance.”

Jeremy Hellickson (2-1) returned to the mound for Washington after being sidelined since June 4 with a right hamstring strain. The veteran right-hander allowed three runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and two walks.

RED-HOT RENDON

Rendon is batting .396 in his last 13 games, with hits in 12 of those contests. His 85 career hits against Philadelphia are tied for his most against any opponent.

WHAT A THROW

Alfaro upped his major-league lead to 15 base runners caught stealing when he nailed the swift Trea Turner for the final out in the fifth. Turner entered second in the majors with 22 steals, but was easily out.

”Alfaro threw a bullet Bobby Okereke Jersey ,” Martinez said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: RHP Stephen Strasburg (right shoulder inflammation), out since June 10, threw a bullpen session on Saturday. … Washington transferred 1B Ryan Zimmerman, who has been out since May 10 with a strained right oblique, to the 60-day DL.

UP NEXT

The teams close out the four-game series on Sunday afternoon with Washington LHP Gio Gonzalez (6-5, 3.68) facing Phillies RHP Jake Arrieta (5-6, 3.54).

PHOENIX — Give Arizona left-hander Robbie Ray an “A” in self-evaluation.

Ray won his final six regular-season decisions in 2017 after missing a month with a concussion suffered when he was struck in the head by a line drive in St. Louis on July 28. Then last Wednesday, he spun six scoreless innings in a 2-1 victory over Florida in his first start after missing 58 days with an oblique injury.

Ray will face the Cardinals again on Monday, in the first game of a three-game series at Chase Field. Right-hander Carlos Martinez will start for the Cardinals.

“Obviously, I’m not going to go out there if I don’t feel 100 percent,” said Ray, a first-time All-Star in 2017.

“There is a constant line of communication between me and Torey (manager Lovullo). He was open with me. He wanted me to make another rehab start. I made it clear that I felt like I was ready. It felt good to be back on the mound and to be good to put up some zeroes for this team and help us win.”

Both Arizona and St. Louis enter the series after being swept, the Diamondbacks losing three to NL West rival San Francisco and the Cardinals dropping three to NL East-leading Atlanta.

That was only a slight hiccup for the Diamondbacks, whose 19 victories in June tied for the most in the majors. They led the majors with 11 triples and were second in runs in the month. Starting pitchers had 15 victories Khari Willis Jersey , also the most in the majors, capped by wins by Ray and Zack Greinke in the final two games of a four-game series in Miami early last week.

The D-backs have lost only two of their last 10 series, both to San Francisco, while recovering from a 2-15 skid in May.

“You are going to have ups and downs,” Ray said. “That was a little bit of an extended down, but good teams find a way to break out of that. I feel like we’ve done that this month.

“It’s another thing we have going on. The dynamic in this clubhouse, we are never down on ourselves. Guys were in here playing music every single day. Nothing has changed. We understand that there is a process, and you have to stick with it. The second that you start changing who you are and over-analyzing a little bit, it can weigh on you.

“We just come in there every day like it’s a new day. We prepare every day the same way, and we don’t change anything.”

The Cardinals have been careening a bit. They have lost four in a row after winning four straight, a run that ended another three-game losing streak. They have lost 12 of 18 since peaking at eight games over .500 on June 11.

St. Louis has scored 11 runs in their last four games after clobbering Cleveland’s Corey Kluber, scoring six runs off his in 1 2/3 innings, the shortest outing of his major league career.

Martinez (4-4) won that game, his first in five starts since returning from the disabled list Josh Allen Jersey , giving up two runs with eight strikeouts in six innings. He had a 1.62 ERA in eight starts before going on the disabled list and has 6.75 ERA in five starts since returning. His issue has been walks, 43 in 72 2/3 innings.

The Cardinals have considered moving first baseman Jose Martinez to the outfield in an attempt to increase their run production, but Martinez started at first again Sunday.

“The bat has to be (in the lineup),” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told reporters over the weekend. “You’ve got a guy who’s been as consistent as anybody we’ve had all season. So you’ve got to find a place for him.

“We’ve never ruled out the outfield. None of that is out of the question. We haven’t featured that yet but it’s something that has been in the conversation. He’s been doing work out there, too. But, right now, it’s how do we improve at first base?”

Carlos Martinez has had good success against Arizona, with a 2.88 ERA in eight appearances. That ERA ranks 20th among active major leaguers with at least 30 innings against the Diamondbacks. Martinez has been even more successful at Chase Field, with a 2.11 ERA, fifth among those with at least 20 innings.

Martinez has given up one homer against the Diamondbacks, that coming to Gerardo Parra in their first meeting. Since then, he has gone 33 1/3 innings without giving up a homer to them.

Ray (3-0) is 1-2 with a 4.60 ERA in four career starts against the Cardinals. He was removed after being struck by Luke Voit liner in the second inning of the July 28 start last season.