Nick Wass/AP
Bryce Harper was ejected by umpire Brian Knight in the bottom of the 9th inning of the Nationals’ walk-off win against the Tigers on Monday night after arguing balls and strikes throughout the game, during his at-bats and during those of his teammates.
In the 4th inning, Harper struck out and nearly blew a gasket arguing with Knight over his calls. Somehow, he wasn’t ejected. Then, with the game tied in the bottom of the 9th, Nationals shortstop Danny Espinosa struck out looking and Harper — from the dugout — again started yapping at Knight.
This time, Knight promptly tossed him.
One batter later, Clint Robinson hit a walk-off home run to give the Nats the win. As the Nats streamed from the dugout to celebrate the win, Harper turned to Knight to get some final words in.
Cameras caught the moment pretty clearly. You don’t have to be a lip-reader to decode this one:
A slowed-down version:
Bryce Harper got ejected from the dugout, then came out & gave the ump a “f*** you” during Nats walk off celebration pic.twitter.com/6O0bgcM02k
— Baseball Fam (@ShtBallPlayrsDo) May 10, 2016
USA Today captured the best shot of the incident:
The #Nationals walk-off and #BryceHarper lets the home plate umpire know how he really feels. Photo by Brad Mills pic.twitter.com/O3p5cj38ZV
— USATODAYSportsImages (@usatsimg) May 10, 2016
In the locker room after the game, Harper (curiously not wearing his Make Baseball Fun Again hat) said he was prepared to get fined for his tirade. He also said that he didn’t regret yelling some “choice words” at Knight:
“I was pretty upset…I let him hear what I had to say, let him hear it again and you know, so what?”-Bryce Harper on yelling at ump tonight
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) May 10, 2016
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