Murphy confirms left hamstring "soreness," Baker says "day-to-day"

Nationals first baseman Daniel Murphy was in the original lineup a few hours prior to Friday's opener against the Pirates.

But about an hour before first pitch, the veteran was scratched due to "general leg soreness."

Clint Robinson was inserted in the lineup, batting eighth and replacing Murphy.

"Murph told me before BP, 'Stay ready, might be in there,' " Robinson said. "(Bench coach) Chris Speier told me during BP that I was in there. That's really all there was to it."

The Nationals went on to defeat the Pirates 5-1, with Robinson going 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Murphy said he felt his leg after a slide in the All-Star Game Tuesday night. He was one of five Nationals representing the National League in San Diego.

"I just felt a little soreness late in the game," Murphy said. "Just a little hamstring soreness."

Murphy confirmed it was his left hamstring.

Did he hurt his leg on a slide into second?

"I just felt some tightness," Murphy said. "I think 'hurt' may be a little extreme. But yeah. It was sore and after talking with Dusty and the training staff, we thought it would be best to not play today. Get some treatment and we'll come in tomorrow and see how it feels.

"It's a very advantageous situation for us to be in, as we saw the way Clint swung the bat today," Murphy continued. "It's a deep group of position players. That was a great lineup out there today and Clint swung the bat well."

Manager Dusty Baker talked about why they decided to keep Murphy out of Friday's game.

"It was more precaution," Baker said of the decision. "He hurt his game some at the All-Star Game. So we decided, all of us including Murph, that it would be best if he didn't play today."

Baker made it sound during postgame like they might keep Murphy out of Saturday night's game as well. The team has a scheduled off-day Monday before the Dodgers arrive.

"Not sure about tomorrow because we can't lose Murphy for any period of time," Baker said. "So he's day-to-day. Clint Robinson, he's always ready."

"The leg is hurting, but it's not too bad," the skipper said. "We want to stop it before it gets to something worse."