Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche stood in front of his locker Friday afternoon and took stock of his ailments.
There’s the back tightness that caused him to miss the first two games of a three-game set in Los Angeles earlier this week. Then there’s the swollen elbow, the result of a hit-by-pitch in the series finale Wednesday, a game in which he wasn’t even supposed to participate. And then there’s the stomach virus, which has plagued him for three days.
“We got three things we’re treating, that we’re trying to get rid of,” LaRoche said. “But we’re making some progress.”
That progress was enough for LaRoche to return to Washington’s starting lineup for Friday’s series-opener against the Phillies. Even after Thursday’s day off, the elbow, back and stomach virus all still bothered LaRoche.
“I feel better,” he said. “I don’t feel great.”
It was enough, however, for LaRoche to tell manager Matt Williams that he wanted to be back in the starting lineup.
“We have a daily conversation about how he is and how he’s doing and what our thoughts are, lay out a gameplan for the next three days,” Williams said. “We’ll monitor and see where he is. Today he’s good and we’ll check in again tomorrow.”
LaRoche had an afternoon for the ages Wednesday in Los Angeles. Despite his ailing back, stomach and, eventually, elbow, he hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run to tie the game in the ninth inning. The Nationals went on to beat the Dodgers, 8-5, in 14.
LaRoche finished with five RBI — not that it mattered to him at the time.
“The last thing I’m thinking about is RBIs,” LaRoche said. “I’m literally — I hate to say trying to survive because obviously life can be way worse — but I was just trying not to pass out.”
Given his back and stomach ailments, LaRoche did not expect to play unless a situation arose in which one swing of the bat could change the game. He didn’t even bring his bats to the dugout, instead using one of Jayson Werth’s.
The elbow only made matters worse. LaRoche was hit by a pitch in the 11th inning and said both swinging and throwing were painful afterwards. Swinging was so painful, in fact, that in his following at-bat, he considered laying down a bunt before lining a two-run single to left field.
Add that to the nausea and it’s easy to understand why LaRoche was praying for a quick ending to the game.
“I was trying to survive every inning,” he said. “And on defense, praying the ball wasn’t hit to me, which is typically the opposite of what you want your defenders thinking.”
After the game finally ended, LaRoche was unavailable to address reporters because he was receiving treatment for his various maladies. He received fluids through an IV and anti-inflammatory medication for both his back and elbow. A six-hour flight from Los Angeles to Washington followed.
“So that was fun,” LaRoche said.
Williams couldn’t recall ever seeing a performance like LaRoche’s on Wednesday, but he surmised the ailments might have actually helped his play, even while hurting his body.
“Often times guys have their best games when they’re sick or when they’re hurt because they don’t try to do too much. And that’s the case for Adam,” Williams said. “He put just a nice and easy swing on a fastball and hit it over the fence, and he did the same thing on the two-run single. Often times that’s the case, where guys aren’t feeling well and they’re still in the lineup. They just kind of relax and everything happens for them.”
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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