Williams insists it's just a day off for Harper and Rendon

The Nationals will face the Braves in this afternoon's series finale without right fielder Bryce Harper and second baseman Anthony Rendon. Harper pulled up limp after mashing a one-out double in the 11th inning last night. Nationals manager Matt Williams and head athletic trainer Lee Kuntz went out to check on Harper, who told them his right leg cramped up. Harper convinced Williams he was good enough to remain in the game and score the game-winning run - which he did moments later on Ian Desmond's walk-off sacrifice fly.

Despite leaving Harper off his lineup sheet today, Williams insisted his slugger is fine and just getting a rest. Harper missed last Friday's game with a strained left hamstring that he suffered while making a throw to the plate in the sixth inning the night before.

The Nationals are 1-2 this season with Harper out of the starting lineup. The 22-year-old ended an 0-for-9 blip last night with an RBI single in the seventh that broke a scoreless tie. He ended up 2-for-5 on the evening and is hitting .375 with six homers and 15 RBIs over 20 games this month.

Meanwhile, Rendon exited last night's game after striking out to end the eighth inning. Williams indicated that Rendon has been dealing with some soreness in his left quad recently.

"It's nothing with the knee," Williams said. "He's had a little bit of an issue with the quad that he's been playing with, so we're make sure that we look at days that we can give him. Today was one of those days that we've scheduled. So we need to make sure that we're mindful of his progress, too."

Rendon was given last Sunday off, as well. His bat has started to heat up recently after missing the first 53 games of the season with a left MCL sprain and a strained left oblique. Over his last five contests, Rendon is batting .563 (8-for-15). He has appeared limited at times moving laterally in the field.

Williams bristled when pressed further on the conditions of his young stars.

"They're both getting a day," Williams said. "That's as far as we're going to go. We're not going to delve into intricacies of any of that right now. They're both getting a day off. They're both available off the bench. That's as far as we'll go with it."

Right-hander Doug Fister returns to the mound for his second start since coming off the DL last week after battling a strained flexor muscle. Fister pitched well last Thursday before running into some bad luck against the Rays in the sixth inning, when Ian Desmond wasn't able to handle what should've been an inning-ending double play grounder. From there, the inning unraveled and Fister was charged with five earned runs in the loss.

"I don't think we need to fine-tune anything," Williams said of Fister. "I just think he wants to throw the ball down in the zone, use his sinker. I think he pitched well. He got into some trouble and then we had a fluke play last time out. You know, I thought he pitched well. What I want is for him to be healthy and not have any issues. The last time out was indicative of him feeling pretty good. There are no restrictions today."

Fister will try to add to the Nationals' current 34 1/3-inning scoreless streak by their starting pitchers.

"Guys are hitting their stride from a starting pitching standpoint," Williams said. "Generally, in the middle of the season, they start to lock it in where they're in the rhythm of the season. So I think that if we can continue to pitch well then we have a chance to win every day. That's the formula."