Padres designated Matt Waldron for assignment

Coming in for a bulk outing after Matt Waldron fired two scoreless innings, the wheels fell off for Dion in his third inning of work. After tossing two scoreless frames out of the pen with eight swings-and-misses along the way, both Troy Johnston and Cole Carrigg hit two-run homers in the fifth. Johnston’s came off a front-door sinker that the left Dion was bold for trying and missed his spot badly. Carrigg’s was off a fastball at the letters that didn’t even crack 90 mph. At that point, manager Blake Butera had seen enough and pulled Dion. He has good stuff, but will need to sustain a bit more velocity to be effective in a multi-inning role. Luis Perales came in for some bulk work after as well and showed elite stuff – 101 mph fastball, 11 whiffs – but let up four runs in two innings with three walks. It seems like the Nationals are going to deploy their pitchers in unorthodox ways during the final month of the season.

Waldron heads to his third different organization this season after being cut loose by the Blue Jays earlier this week. The 29-year-old figures to operate in a swingman-type role for the Nationals over the final five weeks of the season. He’s posted a bloated 7.54 ERA across 37 innings of work in the big leagues this year.

Waldron, claimed off waivers from the Padres earlier this month, gave up five runs over 4 1/3 innings in his four outings for the Jays. He could be claimed by another team looking for someone to soak up innings.

Waldron had put together some solid runs of production since switching to throwing his knuckleball as his primary pitch. However, he had a 7.16 ERA in 32 2/3 innings for the Padres this season. It’s an interesting gamble for the Blue Jays. He’s out of options, so he’ll presumably go right on to the active roster.

Waldron, who has an 8.49 ERA in three starts and three relief appearances in the majors this year, was on the verge of being DFA’d when the Padres placed him on the IL with a right brachialis muscle injury in mid-May. He’s back with the club now and available to work in middle relief after allowing four runs in 15 innings over five rehab appearances with Triple-A El Paso.

Waldron pitched in a bulk relief role on Tuesday and then was used out of the bullpen once again on Thursday by the Padres. It’s unclear exactly when the injury occurred or the severity of it. Alek Jacob was recalled from Triple-A El Paso to take his spot in the Padres’ bullpen.

Waldron was supposed to go long as a bulk guy tonight, but after entering to begin the second, he couldn’t make it out of the fourth. He’s probably Triple-A bound now with his ERA up to 9.28. Lucas Giolito can come up and replace him in the rotation.

Waldron worked behind an opener today, which proved important since the Padres only took the lead for good in the seventh. If Waldron had come out after five, he would have missed out on his first win of the season. He’s still probably in line for a demotion now, as the Padres are off Monday and could have Lucas Giolito join the rotation afterwards.

Randy Vasquez, who had been scheduled to start on Sunday, will get pushed back to Monday. That also means that Matt Waldron will get bumped from the Padres’ rotation entirely. Canning, 29, has been working his way back from last year’s Achilles injury. He posted a 3.60 ERA, 1.67 WHIP and an 18/12 K/BB ratio over 15 innings in five minor league rehab starts at Triple-A El Paso.

The first run came in the second on a rally that started because Jackson Merrill got worried about the wall in center and misplayed Michael Conforto’s fly into a double. The other two came in the fourth, after Matt Shaw dropped down a bunt single with two outs and Pete Crow-Armstrong homered. Waldron struck out just one today. He might start against the Giants next week, but it won’t be long before he’s replaced in the San Diego rotation by Griffin Canning or Lucas Giolito.