

Wilson Ramos during the 2013 season. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Update 6:38 p.m.: An initial x-ray of Wilson Ramos’ hand was negative, according to Nationals Manager Matt Williams. But the team is concerned enough to send Ramos to a Baltimore-based hand specialist on Tuesday. The team is also considering calling up a catcher while Ramos is being evaluated for his injury.

According to a person close to Ramos, however, the catcher did fracture a bone in his hand.

“We have a lot of little bones in there so we have to make sure,” Williams said. “…Our x-rays say negative as we speak. So we’ll get a further test on it and take a look.”

Williams said Ramos hurt the hand on a foul tip and, when he took a swing, his hand hurt. Ramos was replaced in the seventh inning by backup catcher Jose Lobaton.

“He works really hard,” Williams said. “Anybody you don’t want to see that anytime, but especially on opening day. We’ll see where we’re at and we’ll send him to our guy and have him take a look at it.”

Update, 4:42 p.m.: Wilson Ramos exited Monday’s season opener against the New York Mets with a fractured bone in his left hand, according to a person a familiar with the situation. It is unclear how it happened during the game or how long he will be out, but Ramos was replaced in the bottom of the seventh inning with backup Jose Lobaton.

Ramos went 0 for 3 with a strikeout before being pulled. The 26-year-old catcher has endured a string of bad luck in recent seasons. The right-handed batter has played only 103 games over the past two seasons because of knee surgery in 2012 and two hamstring strains in 2013. He entered this season hoping to stay as injury free as possible.

The Nationals will now turn to Lobaton, who was acquired in a mid-February trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for added catching depth behind Ramos. Lobaton, 29, is coming off the best season of his career in 2013, when played in a career-high 100 games for the American League East- wild card-winning Rays, hit .249 with seven home runs and a .714 OPS.

More to come later.