Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon left out of Nationals’ lineup against Braves

Both Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon were not in the Washington Nationals’ lineup for their series-finale against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday.

Harper limped into second base in the 11th inning Wednesday and was initially diagnosed with a cramp in his right leg. Rendon has been dealing with soreness in his left quadriceps muscle, according to manager Matt Williams.

Williams said both players were simply receiving a day off Thursday. He declined to go into much detail beyond that.

“They’re both available,” Williams said, “but today’s a day to give them that rest that they need.”

Harper did not seem particularly concerned about his right leg Wednesday night. He waved off Williams and trainer Lee Kuntz when he reached second base and quickly convinced them that he was healthy enough to stay in the game. Harper later tagged and scored the decisive run on a sacrifice fly by Ian Desmond.

After the game, Harper said he “just felt a cramp” and did not appear worried.

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“I’ll see how I feel in the morning, but it’s pretty much just a cramp. That’s pretty much all I felt,” Harper said. “Skipper came out, he was just trying to be kind of precautionary, that kind of thing, but I would’ve come out if it felt absolutely terrible.”

Harper also exited a game against the Tampa Bay Rays last Thursday with what the team said was a mild left hamstring strain.

According to Williams, Rendon’s soreness is in his quadriceps muscle, not the knee in which he sprained his medial collateral ligament during spring training. Rendon’s return was later delayed by a left oblique strain. Williams said the team will try to give him additional days off when possible in the upcoming weeks.

The manager declined to discuss his resting young stars beyond that.

“They’re both getting a day. That’s as far as we’re going to go,” Williams said. “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.”