Bryce Harper won't play; Williams reacts (with lineups)

Bryce Harper is out of the Nationals lineup today after suffering a mild strain of his left hamstring last night. Clint Robinson will play right field and bat cleanup. I caught up with manager Matt Williams at Nationals Park in an exclusive live video chat for MASNsports.com earlier this afternoon.

"(Bryce) is here," Williams said. "He's getting some treatment. We'll see how he is today and put him through a series of tests, if you will - light tests - to see where he's at. If he continues to have issues with it, then we'll take the next steps appropriate to go get an MRI if need be. He felt OK. Last night, he was OK coming out."

Harper remained on the field, clutching his left leg in obvious pain, after slipping during an errant throw in the sixth inning last night. He was eventually able to limp off the field on his own power.

"He said it scared him more than anything," Williams said. "But today's the test. We'll see how he is and see where we can progress with him. He's not in the lineup today and that's probably a given but we'll see what he can and can't do and how we approach it from where we can take him from here. Today's a good test for him. After he gets through all the stuff, we'll have a better idea."

During our conversation, Williams clarified his postgame comments last night that seemed to overemphasize a sense of urgency.

"We're all human right? So last night, I think the interpretation after the game last night was that I was frustrated with how the game went," Williams said. "It was more that I'm frustrated with the things that have happened to us. We're all human and we all react. I don't want to see any of our guys get hurt. We want to win games and want to go out and play well and do all the things that we're capable of doing.

"It's difficult, though, when you got a lot of guys missing. The comment last night about, 'Time to step up,' well it's time for the guys who aren't playing, that don't get a chance to play, to step up. It's time for all of us to step up and get back to playing well and doing some things right. It doesn't help when arguably the National League MVP gets banged up. We hope it's not long and that he's back in there soon. We'll just have to see it goes. That's the course of a baseball season sometimes. And nobody's gonna feel sorry for us. We gotta go play and we gotta go win games."

This afternoon, the Nationals placed right-hander Tanner Roark on the paternity list and recalled right-hander Taylor Hill from Triple-A Syracuse to take his spot on the 25-man roster. Roark and wife Amanda are awaiting the birth of their second child.

For the Pirates:

2B Josh Harrison
LF Starling Marte
CF Andrew McCutchen
3B Jung Ho Kang
1B Pedro Alvarez
C Francisco Cervelli
RF Gregory Polanco
SS Jordy Mercer
RHP A.J. Burnett

For the Nationals:

CF Denard Span
2B Anthony Rendon
3B Yunel Escobar
RF Clint Robinson
C Wilson Ramos
SS Danny Espinosa
1B Tyler Moore
LF Michael A. Taylor
RHP Joe Ross