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After home plate umpire Brian Knight punched Danny Espinosa out on a high-ish 3-2 fastball in the first at bat of the bottom of the ninth last night, Knight heard it from the Washington Nationals' dugout.
Knight made the decision to toss one of the Nationals: Bryce Harper. Harper had to be held back by his coaches as he tried to express his views further.
One at bat later, Clint Robinson stepped in and hit a walk-off homer to right that won it for the Nationals, 5-4 over the Detroit Tigers.
Harper and his teammates emerged from the dugout to celebrate at home plate and the 23-year-old slugger took the opportunity to let Knight know what he thought of the ejection.
What did he say? "A couple choice words, absolutely," Harper admitted.
Harper said that he did say what he appeared to when he went to the plate to celebrate.
"Yeah, absolutely. I think I was pretty upset. I don't think it was right to even do that. So, let him hear what I have to say and let him hear again and so what?"
Harper and Nationals' skipper Dusty Baker said they were surprised by the ejection.
"I think my emotion showed that I was pretty surprised..." Harper said.
"I think everybody was up on the steps and preaching about what they thought was going on and I think he picked me and said, 'See you later.'
"Most of the guys in the dugout thought that that ball was high on Espinosa," Baker explained.
"There was no profanity or nothing and I guess you can't kick everybody out on the team, because a lot of guys were hollering about it. He said he'd kept Bryce in the game earlier and that was it."
Baker didn't, however, feel the need to talk to Harper about what went down.
"It's an emotional game and he's an emotional young man, like most of us on the field out there," Baker said.
"You certainly don't like him to get tossed, but every once in a while you've got to blow off some steam or else you go crazy, so I'm sure it won't happen again.
"Like I said, he didn't swear at him or nothing but it's over now and we won the game."
Is it over? Harper was asked if he thought he would face discipline or a potential fine for having his say before and after the ejection?
"If I do, I do. I'll pay it. Maybe he'll get fined too, we'll see."
#Nationals’ Harper facing fine or suspension for his actions after last night’s game. A player who is ejected is not allowed back on field.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 10, 2016
Baseball will look at totality of Harper’s conduct, including his apparent cursing of umpire Brian Knight after Robinson’s walkoff home run.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 10, 2016