Nats lose close one, Dukes to knee injury

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By Mark Zuckerman THE WASHINGTON TIMES

CINCINNATI | The sting of another heartbreaking defeat was tough enough for the Washington Nationals inside a silent clubhouse at Great American Ball Park. Add another injury to a key position player, and the mood of this snakebitten team was downright disconsolate Saturday night.

A 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds - which ended on Brandon Phillips' RBI single in the ninth - was compounded by the loss of outfielder Elijah Dukes to a potentially serious right knee injury.

“We lost the ballgame. That's the only thing that really matters,” said starter Tim Redding, who allowed one run over six innings. “And hopefully we didn't lose a teammate for a while. I'm not worried about how I did. I'm worried about Elijah Dukes right now.”

An MRI taken on Dukes' knee Saturday night revealed a meniscus tear and a partial tear of the patella tendon. The 24-year-old will have arthroscopic surgery on Monday and will be out a minimum of four to six weeks.

The Nationals plan to promote a player from Class AAA Columbus, most likely outfielder Kory Casto, in time for the start of a six-game homestand Tuesday.

Dukes' injury happened in freak fashion. With one out in the seventh, he went back to the wall to track down Jay Bruce's deep fly ball. He twisted around to catch the ball with his back up against the fence, and in doing so felt something “pop” in his knee, according to manager Manny Acta.

After throwing the ball to center fielder Roger Bernadina, who ran over to back up the play, Dukes immediately went down to the ground writhing in pain. He remained on the ground for several minutes as a Reds groundskeeper drove a tractor out to left field to transport him back to the clubhouse. Acta could only trudge back to the dugout, carrying his young outfielder's glove and hat in his hand.

The look of despair on Acta's face said it all. How much more could possibly befall this club? Washington already has lost first baseman Nick Johnson and closer Chad Cordero for the season. Ryan Zimmerman and Shawn Hill may not return. Lastings Milledge just went on the DL last week. Austin Kearns finally returned Thursday after a six-week DL stint.

“I've never seen anything like it in my career,” general manager Jim Bowden said. “I've just never seen anything like it.”

Making this development even more crushing, Dukes had been Washington's best all-around player for more than a month. After a 1-for-28 start to the season, he was hitting .301 with six homers, 19 RBI and a .493 slugging percentage that earned him the No. 3 spot in the lineup.

“Very unfortunate, because he was playing very well for us,” the manager said. “And the way our offense is going, he's going to be missed. That's the way things have gone.”

The game was tied 1-1 when Dukes suffered his injury following an unconventional pitchers' duel between Redding and Josh Fogg. Neither right-hander dominated - Redding allowed eight hits over six innings, Fogg allowed six over the same span - but each managed to avoid disaster.

Because he left the game when it was tied, Redding got a no-decision for the ninth straight outing, a staggering total.

Shawn Chacon, recently released by the Houston Astros, opened this season with nine straight no-decisions. One more for Redding and he'll tie the major league record of 10, set by both San Diego's John D'Acquisto and Philadelphia's Randy Lerch in 1977.

Cincinnati took a 2-1 lead in the eighth, when reliever Joel Hanrahan surrendered a two-out walk followed by two straight singles. Washington rallied against closer Francisco Cordero to tie the game in the ninth but watched as the Reds won it in the bottom half.

With runners on first and second and one out, Phillips grounded a single to left off Luis Ayala. Willie Harris - who replaced Dukes in the field - fired a one-hop strike to the plate, but it skipped over catcher Jesus Flores' head and Jerry Hairston slid home with the winning run.

“It's just bad luck, man,” Harris said. “There's nothing we can do about it. All of our guys are going down with injuries. They're all going down playing hard, though. I mean, if you're going to have an injury, play the game hard like these guys always do. It's unfortunate for us as a team.”