“Dusty was the one that came to me and actually asked me to go take ground balls at third this series,” Difo said through team translator Octavio Martinez. “I’m not sure if I’m playing there, but it seems like he is trying to get Rendon a day off. I don’t know if it’s coming up, or if he just wants me to be ready. Obviously, I’m taking ground balls so I’ll be ready to fill in whenever they need me.”

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Baker does not plan to rest any of his regulars in Colorado, which means Difo’s big league debut at third may not come until this weekend in Atlanta, if at all. Those games he played at third base in the minors came in the Gulf Coast League and Class A Hagerstown in 2013. He has played four games at second and three at shortstop in his major league career.

“[The adjustment] is you have to have quicker reflexes,” Difo said. “Obviously, the ball gets on you quicker.”

The Nationals recalled Difo from Class AA Harrisburg when Stephen Drew landed on the disabled list with inner ear trouble on July 27. Difo has appeared in 11 games since and is 7 for 22 (.318).

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SPEAKING OF HAGERSTOWN

The Nationals signed a two-year contract extension with Hagerstown, keeping them in concert with the Suns through the 2018 season. The Nationals have partnered with Hagerstown since the 2007 season, before which their Low-A affiliate was the somewhat pun-nily named Sand Gnats of Savannah. Major leaguers Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Reynaldo Lopez, Sammy Solis, Pedro Severino, Difo and Brian Goodwin all played at Hagerstown, which currently owns the best record in the South Atlantic League.

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DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUER SUSPENDED

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that Nationals minor leaguer Yonaiker Oropeza was suspended 72 games without pay for testing positive for stanozolol. The drug, more commonly known as Winstrol, began popping up on positive tests with inexplicable frequency early last season and has largely continued to do so since. Oropeza is an 18-year-old who was on the Nationals’ Dominican Summer League (rookie league) roster and has statistics listed in two games, both of them in June, though he does not appear to have participated much with those Nationals since.

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