Shear Power! Bryce Harper Breaks Bat In Two On Long Home Run

New York (AP)

This was shear power by Bryce Harper.

In a startling display, the Washington Nationals slugger shattered his bat into two pieces, yet still hit a long home run Monday night in an 8-6 win over the New York Mets.

“Barreled it pretty good,” Harper said. “It just broke and kept going.”

Harper hit his major league-high eighth homer, and his 33 1/2-inch, 31 1/2-ounce Marucci bat paid the price. It cleanly cracked, but the ball flew an estimated 406 feet to right-center at Citi Field.

The lumber split just above his hands, and the barrel helicoptered into the high, protective netting behind home plate on the first base side. The five-time All-Star trotted most of the way to first holding the few inches of the handle that remained after tagging a 95 mph fastball from Jacob deGrom.

Mets right fielder Brandon Nimmo headed toward the wall and quickly ran out of room.

“Yeah, that was pretty shocking,” deGrom said, with a slight grin. “I heard the bat break and then I looked, I saw Nimmo, he just kept going so I was like, oh, well, I guess that’s out of here.”

As Harper rounded the bases, first base coach Tim Bogar picked up the sawed-off piece of wood and handed it to a bat boy.
 
© 2018 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Material may not be redistributed.

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