WASHINGTON — If it is Wednesday then that must mean Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper is getting ejected from a major league game near you.
Perhaps that is a little harsh, but for the second Wednesday in a row, Harper was asked to leave a game before it was over.
It happened on May 13 in Arizona when he was upset that that home plate umpire did not ask for help from the third-base umpire on a checked swing call that went against Harper.
The latest ejection came Wednesday night in Washington, when the slugger was tossed in the bottom of the third when he took exception to a called strike against him.
Harper stepped out of the box and was later tossed by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson.
“One thing led to another and I had to run him,” Hudson told a pool reporter after the game. “I had to eject him.”
Harper said: “He told me to get in the box. I was in the box.”
Hudson was asked if he ejected Harper because he wouldn’t get back in the box.
“No. Had nothing to do with the box,” Hudson said.
Manager Matt Williams, who was hollering at the dugout after the pitch to Harper, was ejected a few minutes later. He then tried an Earl Weaver move by twice attempting — not so well — to kick dirt on home plate. “I can’t explain it,” said Williams, when asked why Harper was ejected. “I don’t believe there’s anything that warrants throwing him out of the game right there.”
Last week, the Nationals came back to win, 9-6, as Michael A. Taylor — who took over for Harper — hit a grand slam in the ninth in Arizona.
This time the mild-mannered, quiet Taylor took over at the plate with an 0-1 count in the third and struck out looking. Taylor then played right field the rest of the way and was retired in two other trips to the plate.
The Nationals won, 3-2, for their fifth win in a row. First-place Washington has an off day Thursday and has won 17 of 21 games going into the series opener on Friday at home with the Philadelphia Phillies.
“I wanted to stay in the game. I can’t believe he tossed me. I don’t need to be here (in the clubhouse) watching the game on television,” Harper said. “I don’t think 40,000 people came to watch him ump tonight. Maybe he just had a bad morning or didn’t get his coffee.”
Actually the attendance was 37,648. Harper is hitting .333 this year with 15 homers and 38 RBIs. “Thankfully we won,” he said. Again.