WASHINGTON -- All-Star southpaw MacKenzie Gore is optimistic about returning to the mound this season after being placed on the 15-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation on Saturday, retroactive to Wednesday.
“It’s something, the way it felt last start, where we needed to get an MRI,” Gore, 26, said before Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Rays at Nationals Park. “Nothing crazy showed up with significant injury. I didn’t want to go on the IL, but we kind of needed to. I plan on being back as soon as I can, but we just need to clean up a few things in there and should be alright.”
Gore last pitched on Tuesday against the Yankees in New York, allowing three runs on three hits over five innings and needing 38 pitches to escape a tough third. After a sterling first half that earned him his first All-Star selection, Gore has recorded a 7.54 ERA and a 1.76 WHIP in eight second-half starts.
“I think you always feel discomfort, especially going into September,” Gore said. “The way we were recovering, it wasn’t right. So we needed to get it checked out. We made a good decision, we got on it early.”
In a corresponding roster move, the Nationals recalled righty reliever Mason Thompson from Triple-A on Saturday. Interim manager Miguel Cairo said the Nationals plan to address Gore’s spot in the starting rotation with a pitcher from Rochester when the rosters expand for September call-ups on Monday.
“That’s a guy that wants to go over there and compete every time,” said Cairo. “We just want to make sure he’s healthy enough that if he can come back this year and pitch again, it would be awesome. We’re just going to take it one day at a time just to see how he feels, how he recovers and how he does his stuff in the trainer room and make sure that shoulder’s back to normal.”
Gore, the Nationals Opening Day starter, has accumulated 147 1/3 innings in 27 outings during his fourth Major League season. Last year, he tallied a career-high 166 1/3 frames across 32 starts.
“I had to be honest with myself,” Gore said. “I wasn’t where I needed to be physically, and sometimes when you pitch through things, if you do it, you can really hurt yourself.”
With one month remaining in the regular season, Gore sees plenty of time on the calendar to progress to his return.
“We’ve got to get some strength back, got to get everything moving the right way,” Gore said. “That’s kind of what we’re going to do the next 15 days, and I plan on being ready to go.”