WASHINGTON -- Elijah Dukes was a late scratch from the Nationals' lineup on Saturday against the Reds, benched for coming late to the ballpark. He got into the game in the sixth, but left after the eighth, hampered by a cramp in his right calf.

After the game, Dukes said that he hit himself in the calf with his bat on his backswing, something he said he does often.

"On the finish on my swing, I'm normally banging my legs up a little bit, but I've never hit my calf that hard before," Dukes said. "It instantly cramped up, and I was trying to run at the same time with it cramping. It just felt a little uncomfortable. I came up so I didn't further injure myself."

The young outfielder said he'll come in early Sunday to have his calf examined.

Dukes, who returned from surgery on a torn right meniscus on Friday after a nearly one-month absence, admitted he felt nervous when he first came up in pain.

"Getting hurt twice this year, it makes me a little nervous about getting hurt again," Dukes said. "When I hit it, I was just hoping for the best."

Manny Acta sounded optimistic about Dukes' prognosis.

"It's not a pull or anything, so hopefully he'll be fine [on Sunday]," Acta said. "We'll see how he his when he shows up [on Sunday], but it was nothing more than a charley horse."

As for Dukes' sitdown for showing up late to the clubhouse, Acta said the incident is over.

"We have one set of rules for everybody," Acta said. "When we're dealing with young guys like we are right now, that's part of the problem. They're gonna have to learn to put together those 24 hours a day and show up on time. ... It's put to rest; he felt bad about it."

Dukes picked up his 23rd RBI of the season when he reached on an error in the Nationals' four-run seventh.