Nationals manager Matt Williams said that starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg was removed from his start Tuesday due to irritation underneath his shoulder blade, the team has announced.
Strasburg exited the game against the Marlins after three innings and 64 pitches for reasons unclear at the time.
"He's got a little issue under his shoulder blade," Williams said. "Had it last start. Could be an alignment issue, but as he finishes pitches it grabs him every once in a while. Tonight it got a little bit worse. So we'll have to have the chiropractor look at him."
Strasburg appeared to have some sort of issue early on as Williams, pitching coach Steve McCatty and the trainer visited the mound in the second inning.
"It's something that's just been lingering and I just felt it more and more," Strasburg said. "I felt like it was something that I felt I could have gone through it, but at this point in the season you just want to get it right and not alter your mechanics too much."
Strasburg remained in the game until his turn at bat in the third inning.
Strasburg gave up both runs in the Nats' 2-1 defeat and took the loss to fall to 2-3 on the season.