Harper breaks his bat, still hits mammoth HR

This was shear power by Bryce Harper.

In a startling display, the Washington Nationals slugger broke his bat into two pieces, yet still hit a long home run Monday night against the New York Mets.

Harper’s bat shattered just above his hands, and the barrel helicoptered into the high, protective netting behind home plate on the first base side.

The ball sailed far over the wall in right center at Citi Field. Harper hit his major leagueleading eighth home run, a solo shot in the first inning on a 95 mph fastball from Jacob deGrom. Statcast projected the homer at 406 feet.

Harper later grounded a key single during a six-run surge in the eighth inning that sent the Nationals past the Mets 8-6.

The Nationals rallied against five pitchers in their big burst, winning for just the fourth time in 13 games. The Mets had been off to the best start in franchise history behind the top bullpen in the majors before collapsing.

Trailing 6-1, Washington combined five hits, three walks and a hit batter to take the lead. JUDGE, GREGORIUS POWER YANKEES PAST MARLINS >> Didi Gregorius homered twice for the second time this season, Gary Sanchez had three hits and three RBIs, and the Yankees romped to a 12-1 victory over Derek Jeter’s Miami Marlins. About the only Yankees bopper who didn’t get in on the fun was Giancarlo Stanton, who went hitless and got booed again by the hometown fans in his first game against his former team. Aaron Judge became the fastest major leaguer to hit 60 career homers, and Gregorius finished with three RBIs. New York scored in each of the first five innings and built an 11-0 lead for Luis Severino (3-1), who allowed one hit in six scoreless innings and struck out eight. Judge reached 60 homers in 197 games, five fewer than Mark McGwire.