WASHINGTON -- The Nationals had not played a full game in nearly a week, but when they returned to the field in Saturday afternoon's 4-1 loss in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Dodgers, Bryce Harper had a new addition to his face.
Harper donned a pair of clear frames at the plate before he stepped up to the box in the first inning and struck out against Dodgers right-hander Thomas Stripling. He also wore a second pair in right field, which had a blue tint to them and looked more similar to sunglasses.
Normally, Harper wears contacts, but he struggled to put them in prior to the game, so he decided to wear his glasses on the field for the first time in his Major League career.
"I just wore those for the first at-bat and tried to get [my contacts] in the best I could the second at-bat," Harper said. "Didn't get them in the second at-bat, then I got them in finally in my third at-bat and went from there."
In that second at-bat, Harper came up to the plate and lined a run-scoring single into center field. But he was not wearing his contacts and did not have his glasses on, making his single even more impressive.
"I had the same problem," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "We couldn't get my contacts in for some reason today. He couldn't get his in. I had a tough time reading the card. … I asked him how he felt with the glasses, and he said, 'I saw the ball fine.'"