Nationals vs. Rays: Chien-Ming Wang struggles, Joel Peralta ejected in Tampa Bay's win The Nationals already had enough intrigue, though, mostly wrapped in the question of what to do about their fifth starter. Wang produced a clunker, yielding five runs over 3 1/3 innings. Ross Detwiler, the hard-throwing left-hander who began the season as the Nationals" fifth starter, retired 11 of the 12 batters he faced in 3 2/3 hitless, scoreless innings. Contention, the Nationals are learning, can create difficult choices. In another season, they could practice patience with an accomplished, floundering starting pitcher. In first place, every result means too much to send a project to the mound and hope every fifth day. The Nationals possess several choices for what to do with Wang, none of them appealing. He cannot be counted on to pitch out of the bullpen because of the battered state of his surgically repaired right shoulder. He has no minor league options. The Nationals could designate Wang for assignment, which would mean giving up on him after four starts this season. They could trade him, but that would require the highly unlikely inclusion of a willing partner. They could keep him in the rotation, which would mean rolling the dice on a pitcher who has allowed 40 base runners in 17 2/3 innings as a starter this year. Wang's effort put the Nationals" in a 5-2 hole, and they made it a game when Michael Morse drilled a two-run homer, his first of the season, in the sixth inning. The game received an injection of intrigue to start the bottom of the eighth, when Peralta, who pitched for Class AAA Syracuse and the Nationals in 2010, entered to face pinch-hitter Steve Lombardozzi. Umpires, seemingly at the urging of Nationals Manager Davey Johnson, encircled Peralta and inspected his glove. After a couple minutes, one of the umpires confiscated it, and they ejected him for using a "foreign substance on or in his glove." The Nationals had any number of players and coaches who could have known something about how Peralta, a 36-year-old journeyman: Pitching coach Steve McCatty oversaw Peralta in 2010. Bullpen coach Jim Lett monitored him. Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard and Sean Burnett pitched alongside him. Current first base coach Trent Jewett managed him that season at Syracuse. The inside information did not help the Nationals win the game. After Peralta walked off the mound, Rays Manager Joe Maddon summoned Jack McGee, who retired Lombardozzi, Danny Espinosa and Bryce Harper in order.