Daniel Murphy’s dominant season took a brief break on Friday when he was scratched just before game time from the Washington Nationals’ lineup.

Murphy has what the Nationals called “general leg soreness.” They labeled Murphy as day-to-day. He sat out Friday’s 5-1 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates as a precaution. He will come back to the stadium on Saturday to be re-evaluated. Murphy said he felt soreness in his left hamstring during Tuesday’s All-Star Game in San Diego.

“I just felt a little soreness late in the game,” Murphy said. “After speaking with the training staff, we thought it was the best idea to give it a day then come in tomorrow and see how it feels. It’s a very advantageous situation for us to be in, as we saw the way Clint [Robinson] swung the bat today. It’s a deep group of position players.”

Asked a question with the word “hurt” in it, Murphy chose to rephrase.

“I felt some tightness,” Murphy said. “I think ‘hurt’ may be a little extreme. It was sore.”

Nationals manager Dusty Baker has said repeatedly during the season he wants to keep Murphy’s legs fresh. The reason for the focus is because Murphy has constantly been on the bases during his first season with the Nationals. He leads the National League with a .348 batting average. He’s also 11th in on-base percentage.

Baker said Murphy may need to take Saturday’s game off, too.

“We have a little cushion and we can’t lose Murphy for any period of time,” Baker said.