Nationals' Blake Rutherford: Sitting amid struggles

Rutherford is not in the lineup Thursday versus the Yankees.

Jake Alu will start in left field as Ildemaro Vargas handles second base. Carter Kieboom is at third. Rutherford went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in the Nationals' loss to New York on Wednesday and is batting just .182 with a .388 OPS across his first 34 major-league plate appearances.