Usually when we think about Bryce Harper, we think about what he produces. The homers that fly when that big, violent swing of his connects. That happened again Monday, as his Washington Nationals stayed alive in the NLDS with a 4-1 win against the San Francisco Giants.
But it was Harper's other instrument, his glove, which made the bigger impact in the game. Twice, he took away runs from the Giants with his play in left field, and that proved more important than what he produced with his bat.
Harper made a nice catch at the wall in the second inning when the Giants had two runners on. Brandon Crawford's long drive looked it might bang off the wall and bring around two runs, but Harper jumped and made the catch. It was him banging off the wall.
"If he doesn't run that down," said Giants second baseman Joe Panik, "that changes the whole mindset of the game."
In the seventh, after the Nats had scored three runs, the Giants had Brandon Belt on second base when Travis Ishikawa lined a pitch into left-center that looked like it would find some green. But Harper went to the ground, catching the ball at the last possible moment and leaving Belt stuck on second. It wasn't a bad day for the youngster, despite the pesky sun at AT&T Park.
"Going out there and being able to deal with that sun, it's very tough," Harper said. "[You try to] make some catches and make some plays and not let them score and not let them hit."
Hitting, yeah Harper did that too. He gave the Nats a 4-0 advantange in the ninth with his second monster homer of the series. This one almost left AT&T Park, but not quite. He hit an upper-deck shot in Game 1 at Nationals Park. Two longballs in the series gives Harper this honor:
The homer might be more historic in that sense, but in a win-or-go-home game, the Nationals were happier to have Harper's defense.
"It's a difficult outfield to play," said Nats manager Matt Williams. "Sunny field in left on a day game like this, so it's not easy ... It wasn't really windy early on, but the wind picked up and he made a couple really nice plays. Of course the homer that added another run for us. But first and foremost, he was great defensively. Went up against the wall and made that play with a couple guys on. That could change the game for us."
Oh, it changed the game. It helped keep the Nats alive.
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
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