After Washington Nationals left fielder Bryce Harper was hit with a pitch by Atlanta Braves starter Julio Teheran on Tuesday,Harper began shouting at Teheran as he headed to first base and benches cleared. Harper had hit a homerun in his previous at-bat.
In response to Harper’s reaction, the Braves Twitter account tweeted, “Clown move Bro.”
Clown move bro
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 7, 2013
According to ESPN.com, Braves general manager Frank Wren did not think the tweet was in good taste. He called the post “an inappropriate attempt at humor.”
The Braves’ tweet was referencing a comment Harper made to a reporter last season. The reporter had asked Harper, who was still a teenager at the time, if he planned to drink since the Nationals were about to play the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto. (The legal drinking age in Canada is 18.) Harper's response to the question was, “That’s a clown question bro.”
After the tweet from the Braves account, according to ESPN.com the Nationals fired back from their official Twitter account, “Which part, giving up the home run, or drilling the 20-year-old on the first pitch his next time up?”
The Braves are currently 14.5 games up on the Nationals in the National League East. They are on fire right now having won 12 in a row and holding the second best record in baseball at 69-45. Many considered the Nationals to compete for a World Series before the season began. However, they’ve vastly underachieved with a 54-59 record near the beginning of August. In addition to trailing the Braves in the division, the Nationals are trailing the Cincinnati Reds (63-51) by 8.5 games for the final wildcard spot in the NL.