Homers, hit batsmen doom Nats in Bronx
Harper exits after getting plunked twice
NEW YORK — Didi Gregorius ended a long power outage with a pair of home runs, Washington slugger Bryce Harper left in the eighth inning after he was hit by a pitch for the second time, and the New York Yankees beat the Nationals 3-0 Tuesday for their 10th win in 12 games.
Harper returned to Yankee Stadium for the first time in three years and fell to the ground in pain when hit on the right elbow by a 90 mph pitch from CC Sabathia (4-1) in the fifth inning. The 2015 NL MVP initially remained in the game but came out after he was hit on the left foot by Dellin Betances’ 89 mph slider leading off the eighth. Harper had been hit just once previously this season and had not been dinged twice in a game since Aug. 16, 2013, at Atlanta.
Harper, a free-agent-to-be, walked in his first two plate appearances. He is hitting .215 since May 1, dropping his average to .228.
Nationals All-star second baseman Daniel Murphy made his season debut after recovering from right knee surgery on Oct. 20. He was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts as the designated hitter and did not hit the ball out of the infield.
Gregorius has had a “That’s Life” season, following the song’s lyrics of “You’re riding high in April, shot down in May.” He hit .327 with 10 homers and 30 RBIS through the season’s first full month, slumped to a .151 average with one homer and five RBIS in May and began the night with no homers and one RBI in June.
He drove a hanging curveball from Tanner Roark (3-7) into the Yankees bullpen in right-center during a tworun second that also included Austin Romine’s sacrifice fly. It was just the second home run for Gregorius since April 27.
He sent a fastball into the rightfield second deck leading off the sixth for his fourth multihomer game, third this season. Gregorius has hit 11 of his 13 long balls in homer-friendly Yankee Stadium. New York leads the major leagues with 105.
Sabathia lowered his ERA to 3.27, allowing four hits over 5 2/3 innings in his first outing against Washington since 2009. He got a loud ovation in the fourth after striking out Michael A. Taylor for his 1,500th strikeout since joining with the Yankees for the 2009 season. The 37-year-old left-hander’s three strikeouts raised his career total to 2,893.