James Wood News: Sitting as strikeouts mount

Wood is out of the lineup for Monday's game against Atlanta, Bobby Blanco of MASNSports.com reports.

The left-handed-hitting Wood typically plays against most lefties, but he'll sit out a second consecutive matchup with Atlanta southpaw Chris Sale, who most recently faced the Nationals in the second game of a doubleheader last Tuesday. The Nationals' decision to hold Wood out against a power pitcher like Sale could be a measure to prevent the 23-year-old outfielder from adding to his mounting strikeout total. With six games remaining in the season, Wood has already struck out 215 times, leaving him eight shy of matching the MLB single-season record established by Arizona's Mark Reynolds in 2009.