Feldman may be headed to DL

CINCINNATI — If Scott Feldman goes on the disabled list, he will be the last member of the Reds’ opening day rotation to spend time on the DL after just 92 games of the season.

A right knee injury limited to him just one inning in Monday’s 6-1 loss to the Washington Nationals, and Reds manager Bryan Price said a disabled list stint was probable.

“I think it would be unfair to Scott and to the club to put ourselves in a position where we wouldn’t know for sure what he was going to feel like coming out of the bullpen and go through that,” Price said. “He’s dealt with this stuff before, he’s pitched with it, he’s pitched beautifully with it. Today was one of those days he couldn’t overcome some of the issues he was having with his knee.”

Feldman’s velocity dropped through his last start in Colorado and then fell off a cliff in Monday’s game.

Feldman (7-7) started the first inning throwing his cutter around its normal speed of 89 mph, but as the 33-pitch inning wore on, he was throwing it just 81 mph.

“Not only was I making bad pitches, but they were coming in eight miles per hour slower than normal,” Feldman said. “It was one of those days where (the knee) wasn't cooperating.”

Feldman gave up a double to leadoff man Brian Goodwin and a single to Stephen Drew. Bryce Harper then crushed a 1-and-1 pitch (a 74-mph curveball) into the seats in right for a 3-0 Nationals lead.

The next pitch, an 86-mph cutter, was another homer, this time off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman. That was the 12th home run allowed by Reds pitchers in the four-game Nationals sweep. In the sixth, Goodwin would make it 13 for the Nationals with a home run off Asher Wojciechowski, tying the record for homers allowed by a Reds team in a series of four games or fewer. In 1961, the Reds gave up 13 homers against the Cubs in Wrigley Field in a fourgame series. In 1950, the Reds gave up 13 in a three-game series against the Boston Braves.

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg (10-3) allowed one run on four hits in seven innings. He struck out 11.

[JOHN MINCHILLO/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS] The Reds’ Scooter Gennett breaks his bat on a pitch from Nationals reliever Matt Grace in the ninth. The Nationals limited the Reds to four hits.