NEW YORK -- Nationals reliever Kelvin Herrera left Citi Field on crutches Sunday after suffering an injury to his left foot making a play at first base in the ninth inning of the Nats' 15-0 win over the Mets.
The severity of the injury wasn't immediately known. Nationals manager Dave Martinez said Herrera told him the problem was the top of his foot, and the team had X-rays taken at the stadium before leaving for Philadelphia on Sunday night.
Herrera, who has been filling in as the Nationals' closer with Sean Doolittle on the disabled list, normally wouldn't have been pitching in a lopsided game. But Herrera hadn't pitched in five days, and he told Martinez on Sunday morning he needed to pitch an inning regardless of the score so he could stay sharp.
Herrera gave up a one-out single to Austin Jackson, then got Jose Bautista to hit a slow grounder to the right side. Herrera picked up the ball and ran toward first base. He seemed to get hurt as he was running, hopping the rest of the way and dropping to the ground after touching the base for the out.
He was carried off the field on a cart.
Herrera just returned after spending two weeks on the disabled list with a right rotator cuff impingement.
"Poor guy," first baseman Ryan Zimmerman said. "He had worked his butt off to get back."
Herrera seems likely to go back on the disabled list. The Nationals could replace him on the roster with Ryan Madson, who threw a 20-pitch bullpen session Sunday morning and is about ready to return after two weeks on the DL with lumbar nerve root irritation.