Bryce Harper shot out of the dugout and joined his teammates as they celebrated Clint Robinson’s walk-off home run in Monday’s 5-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
As Nationals players mobbed Robinson at home plate, Harper turned toward home plate umpire Brian Knight and conveyed his fury. The Nationals’ right fielder was still steaming from what transpired one at-bat earlier, when shortstop Danny Espinosa was called out on a strike that appeared high and outside. Several players stood at the top of the dugout and voiced their displeasure, but Harper was the only one ejected.
“You never want to get thrown out in that situation, especially in the ninth inning, tie ball game,” Harper said. “I think everybody was up on the steps, preaching about what they thought was going on. [Knight] picked me, said, ’See you later.’
“I think my emotion showed I was pretty surprised. I think Clint Robinson made me really excited, hit the walk-off, got the W, so that’s all that matters about tonight.”
During a replay of Robinson’s walk-off home run, broadcast cameras appeared to show Harper yelling, “[Expletive] you,” at Knight. Following the Nationals’ win, Harper didn’t back down from his apparent anger. When pressed about what he said to Knight, Harper said he had a “couple of choice words, absolutely.”
“I think I was pretty upset,” Harper said. “Didn’t think it was right to do that. Let him hear what I had to say, let him hear it again. So what.
“If I do [get fined], I do. I’ll pay it. I think it deserves…maybe he’ll get fined too.”
Earlier in the game, Harper and Knight exchanged words, but he was only warned, according to manager Dusty Baker.
“There was no profanity,” Baker said. “I guess you can’t kick everybody out on the team. A lot of guys were hollering about it and he said he had kept Bryce in the game earlier, that was it.”
Harper had hardly got to the clubhouse when Robinson delivered the winning home run in the bottom of the ninth. It was a bizarre sequence, from Harper getting tossed from the top step to Robinson’s pinch-hit walk-off immediately after. Robinson, stepping in for pitcher Shawn Kelly, rounded first base thinking he had put his team ahead in the bottom of the eighth inning. It wasn’t until he rounded third and saw all of his teammates waiting for him that he realized the game was over.
“I’m not kidding,” Robinson said. “Thinking it was the eighth inning probably had a calming effect on me, thinking it’s just the eighth inning, just another pinch-hit at-bat, no big deal. Rounding third, knowing it was a walk-off homer made it that much sweeter. We spend a lot of time in the tunnel getting ready and sometimes the game can slow down or speed up on you and you can lose track of the innings sometimes. The only thing I really concerned myself with was when the pitcher’s spot was up.”
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
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