Nats defeat Dodgers, but lose Harper to injury

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Nats defeat Dodgers, but lose Harper to injury

LOS ANGELES - Bryce Harper put a scare into himself and his Washington Nationals teammates after his latest violent collision with an outfield wall.

He received 11 stitches in his chin and jammed his shoulder, but didn’t sustain a concussion after slamming into the wall in right field on Monday night.

Harper left the game in the fifth inning and the Nationals went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-2, in the opener of a 10-game road trip. He didn’t want to talk to reporters after the game.

Harper hit the scoreboard wall face-first while tracking a ball hit by A.J. Ellis over his left shoulder. He never looked at the wall and when he finally turned, he was on top of it.

The impact sent Harper’s cap flying as he bounced off the wall and crumpled to the ground, with Ellis getting a triple.

“I would rather him not go all-out into the wall,” said Ryan Zimmerman, who drove in three runs.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly described Harper’s collision as “scary.”

“That fencing we have is a little dangerous,” he said. “If you hit that, you’re going to feel it, especially face first.”

Jordan Zimmermann (7-1) won his NL and major league-leading seventh game, allowing nine hits and two runs in seven and two-thirds innings, striking out five and walking none.

“I’ve always been confident. I feel like I haven’t changed anything from last year,” he said. “I feel if I keep that up I’m going to have a lot more quality starts.”

The Nationals ended a five-game skid at Dodger Stadium, where they were swept last year when Harper made his major league debut.

The Dodgers’ two-game winning streak ended after Josh Beckett’s shortest outing of the season. He tweaked his groin in the third covering first base on a grounder by Adam LaRoche. Beckett (0-5) gave up four runs - two earned - and three hits in three innings while striking out five and walking two.

AP
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