Nationals manager Dave Martinez, out since experiencing chest pains Sunday and subsequently undergoing a heart catheterization, will be back in the dugout Friday in Miami, the team announced.
Thrilled to announce that manager Davey Martinez will return to the dugout for tonight’s game against the Marlins.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 20, 2019
Welcome back, Davey! pic.twitter.com/FOdBnPnid9
Martinez jumps back into the thick of a postseason race with 11 games to go in the regular season.
The Nationals (83-68) enter Friday's play leading the NL wild card race, having gone 1-2 in a three-game series in St. Louis in Martinez's absence.
Washington opens a three-game series against the Marlins a game up on the Brewers, who hold the second wild card spot, and two games ahead of the Cubs. The Nationals finish the season with an eight-game homestand: five against the rival Phillies, who they lead by four games in the standings, and three against the surging Indians (90-63), who are fighting for an AL wild card spot.
Martinez, 54, left Sunday's game against the Braves during the sixth inning with what was described only as an illness. GM Mike Rizzo told reporters the next day in St. Louis that Martinez had experienced chest pains in the dugout during the game and underwent the catheterization Monday.
Davey Martinez had chest pains during yesterday’s game. Underwent what Mike Rizzo termed a “little minor procedure” today called cardiac catheterization. The procedure went well, Rizzo spoke to him afterward and said he was “upbeat.” Martinez will remain in DC for now.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) September 16, 2019
The Mayo Clinic describes a cardiac catheterization as a procedure used to "diagnose and treat certain cardiovascular conditions."
Bench coach Chip Hale managed the Nationals while Martinez was out, with Tim Bogar assuming the bench coach duties and assistant hitting coach Joe Dillon replacing Bogar as first base coach.
Martinez is in his second year as Nationals manager after serving as Joe Maddon's bench coach with the Rays and Cubs from 2008-17.
