"He was pretty sore," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "He tried to get loose [on Saturday], and he couldn't get loose."
In the seventh inning, with Denard Span on second, Cingrani replaced right-hander Jumbo Diaz to face Harper. On the first pitch, Cingrani hit Harper, who was clearly upset. Harper threw his bat near the Nationals' dugout and slowly walked to first, where he exchanged words with first baseman Joey Votto.
After the game, though, Harper sounded as if he understood Cingrani wasn't trying to hit him on purpose.
"Just got away from him," Harper said.