Prado likely to miss extended time with injury

MIAMI -- The silence in the clubhouse spoke loudly on Friday night after the Marlins' 9-5 loss to the Nationals at Marlins Park.
On the schedule, the night will go down as a loss that dropped Miami's record to 19-31. In terms of the bigger picture, the setback was even more significant because third baseman Martín Prado reinjured his left hamstring, and the 34-year-old was placed on the 10-day disabled list on Saturday.
The organization is bracing for Prado to miss extended time.
"They just did an ultrasound and it showed something in there," Prado said. "I think there is a significant gap between the fibers and the muscles. We'll get an MRI pretty soon, but there is something there."
The club is calling it a left hamstring strain. It's the same ailment that caused Prado to open the season on the disabled list, before he played in his first game on April 27.
"That was a tough one to watch, knowing what Martin has been through," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "You just feel for him. He's worked so hard to get back, and the struggles last year with the legs. To have this now, when it looked like he was starting to swing the bat, unfortunate for us. It seemed like the whole game went right down the tubes when that happened to him. Nothing went right after that."

Before the sixth inning on Friday, Prado enjoyed his first three-hit game of the season. All three knocks came off two-time reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer.
In the sixth, Prado grounded to Trea Turner, who bobbled the ball at short. Prado tried slowing up at first base, but he felt something pull in his hamstring. He doubled over for a few seconds and was tended to by the training staff before being replaced by a pinch-runner, pitcher Dan Straily. Brian Anderson moved from right field to third base.
Shortstop JT Riddle, who exited Triple-A New Orleans' game in the eighth inning on Friday, was called up in a corresponding move.
The Marlins could use some combination of Anderson, Miguel Rojas and perhaps even Riddle, who has played mostly shortstop, at third base.
"It's hard for me to explain sometimes," Prado said of the disappointment. "I knew the challenge of people feeling sorry for me like, 'Oh yeah, he's playing at 80, 70 percent.' I knew it was going to be hard, but I was just feeling great, just doing everything I could. ... It's just been a difficult year-and-a-half for me."

A veteran leader on a youthful squad, Prado has been leading off lately.
"He's a guy we look to be like in this clubhouse, he's a guy who has done so much in his career," Rojas said. "You can reflect on everything he's done in his career and say, 'I want to be like him.'"
Friday marked Prado's 24th game of the season, and he had been off to a slow start. But his three hits raised his batting average to .194.
In 2017, hamstring and knee injuries limited Prado's season to 37 games.
Like Prado, Riddle has dealt with injuries over the past year. He appeared in 70 games for the Marlins in 2017 before undergoing left shoulder surgery. In Spring Training, Riddle dealt with right shoulder tendinitis. But he has been playing regularly at New Orleans, where he is batting .346 in 21 games.
Prado is signed through 2019, and the veteran is determined not to let his latest hamstring setback mark the end of his career.
Asked if he thought his injuries could be career threatening, Prado said: "Not really. Sometimes, it can cross my mind, but I'm not a quitter. I'm not going to quit yet."