Nationals Upgrade by Acquiring Spivey

Making it clear they won’t stand pat, the National League East-leading Washington Nationals acquired second baseman Junior Spivey from the Milwaukee Brewers for pitcher Tomo Ohka, hours before the right-hander was scheduled to start Friday.

The Nationals also picked up two right-handers off waivers, Ryan Drese and Jacobo Seuqea.

Spivey, a 2002 NL All-Star, will fill a hole left by injured second baseman Jose Vidro (ankle).

Spivey is batting .236 this season. He has a .272 career average with 46 homers and 194 RBIs in 429 games with Milwaukee and Arizona, but he has hit .308 against left-handers.

In another move, outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds retired after 13 major league seasons in which injuries prevented the success predicted when he was the No. 4 overall pick by Baltimore in the amateur draft out of Stanford in 1992.

Hammonds, 34, ends his career with a .272 average, 824 hits, 110 home runs and 423 RBIs in 957 games. He never played more than 128 games in a season. Hammonds played with Baltimore, Cincinnati, Colorado, Milwaukee and San Francisco before signing with Washington in December.

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Reliever Tim Worrell returned to the Philadelphia Phillies, five weeks after leaving the team for personal reasons. The right-hander soon will begin a rehab assignment that could last about one month.

Worrell, the setup man for closer Billy Wagner, had a tough start this season, giving up 22 hits and 12 earned runs in 11 innings. He was 0-1 with a 9.82 earned-run average in 14 games before going on the disabled list on May 6 because of psychological issues.

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Colorado Rockies’ left fielder Matt Holliday was put on the 15-day DL because of a broken right pinky, suffered in a headfirst dive against Cincinnati last weekend.