Rendon out of Nats lineup for second straight day

The Nationals are sticking with the lineup that was so effective last night, the one that put up eight runs on 12 hits. Can't really blame them for that. The one guy left on the outside looking in, however, is Anthony Rendon, the Nats' top prospect, who was called up to the majors on Sunday to make his big league debut. The Nationals' initial idea had been to have Rendon in the lineup every day. There was no point in calling Rendon up to the big leagues, they believed, if he was just going to sit on the bench. That was the message that manager Davey Johnson had relayed when Rendon first came up and it was repeated yesterday by general manager Mike Rizzo. After starting the first four games after his call-up, however, this will now mark Rendon's second straight game on the bench. He had gone 2-for-15 with a double and an RBI in his four games. Jordan Zimmermann (3-1, 2.67 ERA) gets the ball for the Nats tonight. He'll square off against Reds right-hander Homer Bailey (1-1, 3.24 ERA), who has allowed two earned runs, struck out 18 and walked three over his last two starts, spanning 14 innings. For the Nats CF Denard Span 3B Steve Lombardozzi LF Bryce Harper RF Jayson Werth 1B Adam LaRoche SS Ian Desmond 2B Danny Espinosa C Kurt Suzuki RHP Jordan Zimmermann For the Reds CF Shin-Soo Choo SS Cesar Izturis 1B Joey Votto 2B Brandon Phillips RF Jay Bruce 3B Todd Frazier LF Xavier Paul C Corky Miller RHP Homer Bailey