Harper BM849556

Washington hosted Baltimore in an inter-league game on May 10, 2017. Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Nationals trailed 6-4. Jason Werth led off the inning with a solo home run. This ball was brought into play for the sixth pitch of Bryce Harper’s at-bat as the second batter in the home half of the inning. To keep the rally going, Harper hit this 86.7 MPH Brad Brach splitter to left fielder Joey Rickard for a double. This ball remained in play as Ryan Zimmerman was unsuccessful in moving the runner, and grounded out to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. With some life left in this ball, it remained in the game for Daniel Murphy who took this ball for a first-pitch strike, before three balls. After the third ball, the last of which had to be blocked, Manager Dusty Baker decided to utilize a new rule for the 2017 season and ordered a no-pitch intentional walk to end the at-bat, and this baseballs professional use. But the Nationals still had momentum with one out and men on first and second. Anthony Rendon hit a single in the next at-bat to load the bases for Matt Wieters who hit a two-run walk-off single. With this win, the Nationals improved to 22-12 and a comfortable 5.5 game lead in the National League East.