Nelson Cruz left the lineup in the second game of three in Wrigley Field after five innings with an issue with his shoulder which the 42-year-old, 18-year-veteran tweaked in the course of going 0 for 2 with a K against Chicago Cubs’ starter Marcus Stroman.
“I saw him take a swing and he didn’t look right,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters after the Washington Nationals’ one win in the visit to the Windy City, on Tuesday night, “and then he took another swing, and on a high fastball he came in and he was kind trying to stretch it out, and we asked him what was going on and he said he felt something in his back shoulder tighten up on him, so he tried to hit in the cage, he just couldn’t get it loose, so we decided to get him out of there and get him checked on.