Bryce Harper injury update: Another blow for former MVP? Phillies star exits game against Nationals

Thomson said neither he nor Harper knew how he had sustained the injury. The team will re-evaluate him on Friday.

Harper’s exit came one inning after he was hit in the face. Dom Smith grounded a ball softly down the first-base line with one out in the fourth inning, and Harper had a simple play if he gloved it and stepped on the bag. The ball bounced off the bag and hit him in the face, causing Smith to reach safely. The play was initially ruled an error by Harper, but was changed to a single.

Harper appeared to feel some discomfort late in the inning on a pick-off attempt by Aaron Nola. He caught the ball and reached across his body to make the tag, then jerked his right arm after the play.

“I don’t know where that happened. He doesn’t know where it happened, I don’t think,” Thomson said. “They came to me between innings and said he had stiffened up. That was it.”

Alec Bohm moved from third base to first and Rodolfo Castro replaced Harper at third base.