Howie Kendrick played in five straight games, starting four in a row, before the Washington Nationals’ finale with the San Diego Padres on Sunday, so Davey Martinez gave the 35-year-old, 14-year veteran a day off, in spite of the fact that Kendrick was on a bit of a (season-long-really) roll.
Kendrick was 4 for 11 in the first three games of the series with the Padres, and 16 for 37 (.432/.450/.757) with three doubles and three home runs in his previous eleven games, eight of which he started.
“You want to put him out there every day, but I’ve got to make sure he’s rested and that he stays healthy throughout the whole year,” Martinez explained last month, when asked how he was handling Kendrick’s playing time.