Bryce Harper Suspended 4 Games, Hunter Strickland 6 Games for Role in Fight

Washington Nationals superstar outfielder Bryce Harper and San Francisco Giants pitcher Hunter Strickland have each received suspensions after the pair fought during Monday's game. 

Per MLB Communications, Harper has been suspended for four games for charging the mound, plus an undisclosed fine. Strickland received a six-game suspension for the intentional hit by pitch.  

Both have elected to appeal the suspensions.

While Strickland received a longer punishment, Buster Olney of ESPN noted the greater impact to the Nationals:

The incident occurred in the eighth inning during Washington's 3-0 win. Strickland hit Harper in the hip with a fastball, and Harper charged the mound, attempting to throw his helmet at Strickland. Both players landed punches as the benches cleared, and a scrum ensued.

Several Giants had to pull Strickland off the field.

The pair have history. Harper hit two home runs off Strickland during a 2014 NLDS matchup between the teams. He clearly felt Strickland chose this moment to retaliate. 

"No, not in that situation," Harper answered when asked if he expected Strickland to hit him, per ESPN.com. "Especially since it's been three years and they won the World Series that year. So I wasn't really thinking about it at all. But when somebody comes at you like that, throws a 90 mph fastball where he did, I wasn't very happy with it and took it into my hands and tried to go after him."

Nationals manager Dusty Baker agreed with Harper.

"We're ahead 2-0, two outs, nobody on base," Baker said. "That's a prime time to hit somebody if you're gonna hit him. It looked like it was intentional to me."

Even Giants manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that it didn't look good.

"Harper gets hit. You're looking at a guy [Strickland] who has given up some home runs, and he'll tell you he was trying to come in, didn't want to make a mistake there. But it looks bad," Bochy said. "So you had two guys who probably don't care for each other much."

Strickland insisted that he didn't intend on hitting Harper, however.

"I can see how [our history] kind of stands in people's minds, but that's the past," he said. "Like I said, I left the ball over the plate a couple times to him. He's taken advantage of that. So obviously I'd rather miss in than over the plate."

Given the fight, suspensions were inevitable. The loss will be a bigger one for the Nationals, as Harper came into Tuesday hitting .331 with 15 home runs and 41 RBI and is an early contender for the NL MVP.

Strickland, however, has been very good himself, going 1-1 with a 1.53 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, three holds and 18 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.