Left hip issue sidelines Harper two games

NEW YORK -- Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper will miss the next two games against the Mets because of inflammation in his left hip, manager Davey Johnson said Monday.

After Saturday's victory over the Marlins, Harper went back to Washington to get his hip checked out by team doctors. Harper has had issues with the hip dating back to Sept. 2, when Johnson noticed that training assistant John Hsu was working on Harper. At the time, the trainers were treating it as if he had a sprained hip. Harper had missed three of the previous five games before Monday. 

It is currently unknown how Harper injured himself. With him out of action, Tyler Moore received the start in left field on Monday.

Harper has endured an injury-plagued 2013 season. He missed more than a month of action after banging his left knee into the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium on May 12.

Entering Monday, Harper was hitting .273 with 19 home runs and 49 RBIs. According to Johnson, Harper is expected to rejoin the team before Tuesday's game. There isn't any talk about shutting Harper down for the season.

"All the tests, the MRI and all that didn't reveal any structural damage. There is just some inflammation in there. If you take care of that, he is good to go," Johnson said. "He has been playing. There are times where it has acted up, other times it hasn't. [The doctors] don't know what caused it."