Nationals' Blake Rutherford: Demoted after Sunday's loss

The Nationals optioned Rutherford to Triple-A Rochester following Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Marlins, Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reports.

Rutherford's demotion comes after he had recently ceded his strong-side platoon role in left field to Jake Alu, who had previously been handling an everyday role at second base. Given that Rutherford had been out of the lineup for five of the Nationals' last six games and had recorded a .182/.206/.182 slash line through his first 34 plate appearances in the majors, Washington's decision to send him back to the minors doesn't doesn't come as a major surprise.