Bryce Harper Injury: Updates on Nationals Star's Illness and Return

Updates from Tuesday, Sept. 16

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reported on Bryce Harper's return to the Nationals' lineup:

James Wagner of the Washington Post reveals what was ailing Harper during yesterday's game:

Original Text

With the Washington Nationals likely heading to the playoffs, the last thing they want to see is injuries to key players. Unfortunately, Bryce Harper was removed from Monday's game against the Atlanta Braves.

The team announced the issue on its Twitter account:

Mark Zuckerman of CSN noted there was no obvious injury that occurred during the game:

After the Nationals 4-2 win, Zuckerman provided an update on Harper:

"

The illness that plagued Adam LaRoche, Anthony Rendon and others on the Nationals’ roster the last two weeks apparently has now taken down Bryce Harper as well.

(...)

"He just came in and said: ‘I’m not feeling real good,'” manager Matt Williams said following a 4-2 win that leaves the Nationals one win from clinching the NL East title. “At this point in the season, we’re certainly not pushing that. And with the history of that we’ve had over the last few days with everybody else, we understand that if he gets it, it’s not real fun. So we wanted to get him out of there.”

"

Harper was batting .270 with 13 home runs and 32 RBI for the Nationals coming into the day, but he has been much better since the All-Star break with a .286 average and 11 home runs. He missed about two months of play earlier in the year with a thumb injury.

The Nationals need this type of production in the lineup, especially against a division rival as they look to clinch the National League East.

Nate Schierholtz replaced Harper in left field after the 21-year-old player was removed.

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