Fair or foul, Bryce Harper helped Nats to 8-3 win

The Nationals held a two-run lead in the sixth last night when Ryan Zimmerman's grand slam changed the complexion of the game, allowing Washington to coast to their third straight win 8-3. Zimmerman's epic homer would not have happened if not for a blown call by home plate umpire David Rackley.

With two outs and Anthony Rendon on first, the Nationals had Bryce Harper at the plate facing left-hander Marc Rzepczynski. On a 2-1 count, Harper hit a grounder right at Padres first baseman Yonder Alonso that seemingly would've ended the inning. However, after the ball left Harper's bat, the young slugger dropped to one knee, apparently in pain.

Rackley bought it, thinking the batted ball struck Harper's right foot on its path up the first base line. A foul ball was ruled. Padres interim manager Pat Murphy came out of the dugout, but his debate was a moot point because it was a non-reviewable call. MASN replays showed the ball missing Harper's foot.

The at-bat continued and Rzepczynski walked Harper two pitches later. Murphy then went to right-hander Bud Norris, who promptly walked Yunel Escobar before surrendering the grand slam to Zimmermann.

An inning later, a steaming Murphy realized his fourth game ejection of the season when he continued after Rackley.

When questioned twice after the game about what happened on the foul ball, Harper coyly offered, "I'm just excited that Zim hit the homer. That's all I'm going to say."

Nationals manager Matt Williams said: "I don't know. It's non-reviewable, anyway. If they make the call on the field, we can't review it. I don't know. All I know is that we got another chance."

As expected, the reaction was far different down the hallway in the Padres clubhouse.

"I came back in and watched the video," Rzepczynski told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Harper's a great player, but it didn't hit him. That missed him by a couple feet. It didn't even come close to his feet. Explanation was once you call a dead ball, it's not reviewable. Obviously, my job's coming in and getting him out. Kind of upset that that play didn't work out."

"That's a terrible call," added Padres starter David Shields to reporters. "There's no doubt about it. The ball was two feet in front of him and Harper's acting like it hit him."

Meanwhile, with Denard Span (back spasms) returning from the disabled list, the Nationals finally played with their projected opening day lineup in their 124th game last night. Every starting position player reached base in the game with Rendon, Escobar and Ian Desmond all recording two hits apiece.

"This lineup we have right now, this is what we wanted all year long," said Harper, who added a double with two runs scored. "We're just going to get better as we play. And over this last month and a half, it's going to be a lot of fun for us. Everyone's excited to get going. If we play like this, I think we'll be just fine."

Before Harper spoke to the media, the conclusion of the Mets' 6-5 win over the Phillies was shown on a TV in the Nationals clubhouse. The 22-year-old was asked if he has begun to check out the Mets scores with the Nats trailing in the NL East by 5 1/2 games with only 38 games remaining.

"I really don't care," Harper said. "We've got to win games. Stay with what we're doing. If we don't win, it really doesn't matter. We need to keep winning ballgames, doing what we're doing. And at the end of the day if something happens and we don't make it, then that's part of the game. We've just got to keep playing, keep playing hard and play 'til the end."