Brad Lord begins rehab assignment on Saturday

Lord was the Nationals’ second most valuable pitcher behind MacKenzie Gore while making 19 starts and 29 relief appearances last year. This year, he opened up in the pen and has made only five starts, all of which were short. This is the ninth time this season he’s gotten either nine or 10 outs, but he’s never topped 3 1/3 innings. One more out today probably would have earned him a win; he exited in the fifth before the Nationals scored three runs in the sixth. He’s remained pretty useful, posting a 3.78 ERA in 83 1/3 innings despite missing four weeks with a side issue in July.

Lord allowed two hits and one walk over 55 pitches. The 10 outs were the most he’s recorded in a game this season, and he lowered his ERA to 3.58. He’ll continue in a bulk reliever or opener role for the Nationals down the stretch.

Lord served as the opener for the Nationals on Friday. He put two baserunners on in his limited outing, his first coming on a walk to Griffin Conine in the first inning. Lord would be pulled for Will Dion with two outs in the third inning after striking out Jakob Marsee, with Dion getting the final out to end the frame. Lord will revert to the bullpen but is always a candidate to be used in a similar role when needed.

The Nationals were hoping to get at least four innings out of Lord on Saturday. They got four walks and were forced to go to the bullpen only two outs into the first inning. Lord gave up a base-loaded double to bring two runs in for New York, then loaded the bases again on his fourth walk. He then departed at 44 pitches. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a 4.04 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and a 57/25 K/BB ratio across 62 1/3 innings into a start against the Marlins in Miami on Friday.

Lord returns to Washington’s pitching mix after spending the last month on the injured list with side tightness. The 26-year-old has mostly operated as a multi-inning long reliever this season, posting a respectable 3.88 ERA across 58 innings of work. He can be safely ignored for fantasy purposes.

The 26-year-old hurler was torched for six runs with two outs in the ninth inning on Tuesday against the Phillies and he appears to have injured more than his ERA in the process. He’ll miss at least a week on both sides of the All-Star break as he recovers from the side issue. A corresponding move will be made prior to Friday’s contest.

The Nats were up 5-3 after seven tonight, but Richard Lovelady and Clayton Beeter combined to give up three runs in the eighth. All of the runs were charged to Lovelady, but the big blow was JT Realmuto’s three-run double off Beeter, who was charged with a blown save tonight after earning a save Monday. Since Beeter was pitching for the third time in four days, he wasn’t a candidate to come back out after the Nationals reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Instead, Lord, typically a middle reliever, was handed an 8-6 lead. He struck out Edmundo Sosa and Justin Crawford to start the ninth and then gave up five straight hits, two of which were homers. After the next batter walked, Lord departed, and Paxton Schultz came in and gave up two more runs before finally finishing the inning. it’s the first real blemish of the year for Lord, who hadn’t previously been brought in with a lead in the ninth. He had been 5-0 with one two-inning save, four holds and no blown saves. His ERA jumped from 2.29 to 3.31. Beeter probably remains the favorite for saves in D.C., but since he’ll be unavailable Wednesday, perhaps Gus Varland could close.

We have no idea who is going to get the next save for the Nationals. This one was a bit odd with Lord coming in for the eighth in a three-run game before two insurance runs were tacked on the board in the bottom of the inning. Still, he stayed on for the ninth and now the last seven converted Nationals saves have gone to six different pitchers.

Lord had to be pretty bummed to be tossed back into the pen, given that he was far more valuable last season that any of the Nationals’ other pitching holdovers. Still, it is questionable whether he really has the arm to survive as a starter for the long haul. Working two or three innings at a time in relief might prove to be his best role, and he could sneak in some saves in a wide-open Nationals pen.

Lord struck out two batters on the afternoon and didn’t allow a base on balls. The Marlins got to him in the first inning with a run-scoring triple from Christopher Morel then added on another in the second on an RBI double off the bat of Daniel Johnson. Lord got five whiffs on 43 pitches on the day, registering a CSW of 21 percent. He’s a favorite to secure a spot in the team’s Opening Day rotation, but doesn’t offer much upside for fantasy purposes.