Bryce Harper keeps slugging away during gritty weekend performance

Bryce Harper's health has been well-chronicled and the 22-year-old has lived under a microscope for most of his four-year career. Fluke injuries have interfered with lofty expectations, causing Harper to miss more than 100 games over the last two seasons. But aside from missing games after two plunkings this season, Harper has largely been on the field, arguably performing as arguably the game's best player.

So understandably, the worst was expected when Harper crumbled to ground Thursday night while heaving a wild throw to the plate. But after sitting out Friday with a mild hamstring strain, the gritty Harper returned to the lineup on Saturday.

Once again, the one-man wrecking crew was back it, destroying a slider from Pirates lefty Francisco Liriano. The behemoth solo blast ended up on the grassy area in the batter's eye in dead center field at Nationals Park. He went on to add another RBI single in the sixth to help Max Scherzer with some breathing room en route to the second no-hitter in Nationals history.

Harper was back a it on Sunday, playing the role of instigator as the Nationals sent the scoreboard berserk with a record nine-run first inning. His two-run moonshot to the second deck in right field sparked the furious scoring.

"It just shows you how much of a competitor he is," Scherzer said. "His leg's all bruised up, his hammy's tight and he's out there competing, battling through injuries. He's hurt, but he can play through the pain. And that just shows you how much of a competitor he is. And I respect that a tremendous amount. It's hard to go out there and compete like that. I've been on the mound and drilled by a ball and that stuff hurts."

Ten of Harper's 24 homers have come in games Scherzer has started. There's more to that than coincidence.

"When I see somebody else going out there and competing like that, obviously hitting a home run, it just motivates you to keep competing as hard as you can," Scherzer said. "And I think it just kind of keeps going back and forth. The more he does it, the more I want to do it. The more I do it, the more he wants to do it."

A glance at the stats will show you that Harper is living in Triple Crown territory. His .345 batting average trails only Arizona's Paul Goldshcmidt and Miami's Dee Gordon by 11 points for the National League lead. Harper is one behind Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton for most homers and seven back in RBIs.

"He's had his fair share - and probably more than his fair share - of injuries over the last few years. Freaky stuff. So it's nice that he is able to maintain that health for the most part and be out there every day," said Nationals manager Matt Williams. "It just shows you what he can do."