The frustration seemed to boil over for the Washington Nationals this weekend when their MVP frontrunner and closer came to blows in the dugout.
Max Scherzer's recent struggles played a small part in the club's elimination from playoff contention, and the high-priced right-hander will make one of his final starts this season in Monday's home finale against the Cincinnati Reds.
The feud between Bryce Harper and Jonathan Papelbon blew up in Sunday's 12-5 loss to Philadelphia after Papelbon jawed at the outfielder following a flyout in the eighth. Things became physical when the pitcher lunged at Harper and pushed him against the bench.
Harper was pulled from the game - something the outfielder said was scheduled - but Papelbon surprisingly went back out for the ninth. He was then charged with five runs - two earned - while getting credit for the Nationals' fifth loss in six games.
"He apologized," said Harper, who is slated to have the day off Monday. "It's like brothers fighting. That's what happens. Hopefully, we'll move forward and I'll do what I can for the next six days to have some fun and play the game."
Harper, the NL leader in batting average and home runs, appeared to call out Papelbon earlier this week for plunking Baltimore's Manny Machado in a 4-3 loss Wednesday.
"I mean Manny freaking hit a homer," Harper said at the time. "Walked it off and somebody drilled him. I mean, it's pretty tired. It's one of those situations where it happens and, I don't know, I'll probably get drilled tomorrow."
It might have seemed unimaginable that their season would end this way after the Nationals won the Scherzer sweepstakes in January. A seven-year, $210 million deal for the 2013 AL Cy Young Award winner made them a popular pick to take the NL pennant and at least their third NL East title in four years.
Those two playoff appearances each ended in the division series and Scherzer was expected to help get them over the hump. Instead, the Nationals (79-76) are in line to finish far behind the New York Mets in the division.
Scherzer (12-12, 2.98 ERA) has gone 1-4 with a 4.85 ERA in his last nine starts and took the loss Wednesday against the Orioles, yielding four runs over 6 2-3 innings.
"When you have the type of talent that we have in this clubhouse and we aren't able to succeed," Scherzer told MLB's official website, "everybody needs to reflect on what they need to do better to be able to do what they need to do for 2016."
Scherzer is scheduled to make two more starts beginning with this makeup game against the Reds (63-92) stemming from a July 8 rainout. He took a 5-0 loss July 7 in his only start versus Cincinnati this season, allowing five runs in 4 2-3 innings, but will face a team that's mired in one of its longest losing streaks of 2015.
An 8-1 defeat to the Mets on Sunday was the Reds' eighth in a row, one shy of matching a season worst. Cincinnati will try to end it by finishing 6-0 against Washington.
Brandon Finnegan (1-1, 4.97) will try to lead the Reds to their first season sweep in the series in his third career start. The left-hander, acquired from Kansas City on July 26, took a 5-3 win at Milwaukee in his first outing Sept. 18 but was tagged for six runs in five innings of a 10-2 loss in St. Louis on Wednesday.
Joey Votto has reached base in 44 straight games, the Reds' longest streak since Pete Rose's team-record 48 in a row in 1978 and one shy of matching MLB's longest this season.
"He's been terrific," manager Bryan Price said. "It's a huge bounce back year after missing 100 games last year, and that's been great to see."
Votto, hitting .370 with a 1.211 OPS during his streak, has batted .414 during a seven-game hit streak against Washington.
