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Nationals' lineup + Dusty Baker and Bryce Harper on Harper's 437 foot homer

Dusty Baker's Washington Nationals take on the St. Louis Cardinals again tonight with Max Scherzer on the mound in the nation's capital against Cards' lefty Jaime Garcia. Here's the Nationals' lineup for the second of four with the Cardinals...

By Patrick Reddington
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Bryce Harper's twelfth home run of the season traveled 437 feet and reached the upper deck in Nationals Park.

It was his first in 46 plate appearances as the 23-year-old slugger has slumped in the last month-plus, struggling to square up what he's actually been given to hit. So was he relieved to hit one out again?

"No, not really," Dusty Baker told reporters after Washington's 2-1 win in the series opener with St. Louis.

"He fouled off a couple pitches -- and that's been the problem -- when he gets his pitch he's been fouling it back..." -Dusty Baker on Bryce Harper's recent struggles

"He's pretty cool. He was real cool about it, really. I would have been smiling like a [cheshire] cat, but he was pretty cool about it. I didn't see a reaction either way off him, I'm sure inside he was much relieved."

It was Harper's first home run since May 13th in Miami, but Baker said it seemed like it's been a lot longer than that.

"I don't know, how long has it been since he hit a home run? Almost a month? Seems like a month and I'm just hoping that gets him going."

Harper didn't miss when Cardinals' starter Mike Leake left a curve up in the zone, but he was hitless in his other three plate appearances on the night.

"He fouled off a couple pitches -- and that's been the problem -- when he gets his pitch he's been fouling it back," Baker said.

"I mean straight back, which shows you that he's on the ball, he's just not on the center part of the ball.

"Most times you foul a ball back, you're underneath the ball and there's not much difference between fouling a ball back and hitting it fair on the field.

"There's just a -- probably -- a -- I don't know, a millimeter difference between hitting a line drive and popping it up and fouling it back, so I'm just hoping that that gets him going."

"You just try to square up the ball every time," Harper told reporters.

"Getting one or two pitches a game, you foul them back and they throw something dirty and they get you." -Bryce Harper on failing to square up the pitches he gets

"And I haven't been doing that, so... I mean, getting one or two pitches a game, you foul them back and they throw something dirty and they get you.

"So if I don't hit those pitches that are in the zone, then you're going to struggle and do the things that you don't want to do. So, I was able to get a pitch that I could handle tonight and do some damage with it."

Harper's 1 for 4 game left him 13 for 66 (.197/.446/.348) on the month with a .245/.426/.545 line on the year. So did the home run give him something positive he can take away going forward?

"It looked good, I mean, definitely, but the other three at bats weren't very good. But I felt good, like I said before, two weeks or a week ago, I felt good. There's nothing I can tell you guys that I can say any different.

"Swing feels great. My hands feel good. Sometimes it's just like that."

Harper, who has a .235/.357/.529 line against left-handers on the year, will face Cards' lefty Jaime Garcia tonight in the nation's capital.

Here's the rest of the Nationals' lineup for the second game of four with the Cardinals:

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