Bryce Harper removed from Sunday’s game after collision
Washington Nationals’ star Bryce Harper left Sunday’s game in the first inning when he collided with Miami second baseman Derek Deitrich during a routine play on a groundball.
Harper was running from first to second base on a ground ball and Deitrich was moving to second to cover the bag looking for a potential throw from shortstop Miguel Rojas. The throw went to first instead and Dietrich and Harper collided at second as the final out was being recorded.
Harper’s status going forward and any potential injury haven’t been reported yet by the team. It is the second consecutive day one of the biggest names in the game has been knocked out of a game in a collision. Toronto shortstop Troy Tulowitzki suffered a cracked shoulder blade in a collision with a teammate Saturday at Yankees Stadium.
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Losing Harper is the last thing Washington needs at this point if it harbors any hope of making an unlikely come-from-way-back run into the playoffs. The Nationals were 91/2 games behind the Mets in the National League East Division and 11 games out of the second wild card spot at the start of play Sunday.
Despite the Nationals’ disappointing season, Harper is among the favorites for the MVP award in the NL. Missing any time down the stretch could impact that as well as Washington’s hopes of a memorable late-season rally. Harper had 36 home runs and 85 RBI going into Sunday’s game.
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Matt den Dekker came on to replace Harper in the Washington lineup after the injury and hit a solo home run to right in the top of the sixth inning.
Harper isn’t just an asset with the bat in his hands. He made a nice play on a deep fly ball in Saturday’s game against Miami. See the video of that play below.
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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
