Tempers were flying Sunday afternoon in San Francisco as Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper and Giants veteran reliever Hunter Strickland exchanged punches. Here is how it all went down between Harper and Strickland:
The Hit By Pitch
In the eighth inning with the Nationals leading 2-0, Harper stepped to the plate facing Strickland. On a first pitch 98 MPH fastball, Strickland beaned Harper right around his ribs. Harper took acceptation to this, and after exchanging some words with the righty, charged the mound.
The Brawl
Harper ran out the 60 feet 6 inches and took off his helmet. He appeared to try to throw it at Strickland, however comically it slipped and flew astray. The two exchanged a few haymakers as both teams poured out of their dugouts and mayhem broke loose.
Harper was eventually restrained by Ryan Zimmerman, who was on-deck at the time of the at-bat. On the other hand, it took four different Giants teammates to restrain Strickland back to the dugout.
The Reaction
Harper and Strickland have had some history, as this was the first time Strickland faced off against Harper since he hit two home runs off him in the 2014 NLDS. Harper took him deep twice, and appeared to be yelling at Strickland from the dugout after the second long ball.
Strickland spoke to USAToday.com about that matter postgame. “I can see how that kind of stands in people’s minds, but that’s the past.”
However, Nationals manager Dusty Baker who has been around the game a long time isn’t buying that. Postgame Baker added, “baseball is a game where you don’t forget and you can hold grudges for a long, long time.”
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