Bryce Harper stood at home plate and watched as his blast soared over the fence to the left of straightaway center field.
That scene came during early batting practice at a nearly-empty Nationals Park on unusually warm early May afternoon.
About four hours later, Harper came to the plate for real and once again he smashed a homer, this time to the right of the 402-foot padding in center in the last of the first against Pittsburgh’s Ivan Nova on Wednesday night.
Harper, batting leadoff for the second game in a row, ended the night with three hits, two runs and three RBI and first baseman Matt Adams also homered for the second night in a row as the Nationals beat the Pirates 9-3.