Warnings issued after Harper hit twice by Braves

ATLANTA -- Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper was twice hit by a pitch during Friday's 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Braves at Turner Field.

In the fourth inning, with left-hander Alex Wood on the mound, Harper was hit on the right arm with a curveball. After Harper was hit the second time in the eighth inning by left-hander Luis Avilan, home-plate umpire Marty Foster issued warnings to both teams.

"I feel bad for him, especially because I don't want to hit him in that part of the body. It was a bad day for me," Avilan said. "I was thinking, 'I hope he doesn't think I hit him on purpose.' You know the situation. We were leading, 2-1. I don't want to put the [go-ahead] run at first. I feel bad. If I'm going to hit him on purpose, I'm not going to hit him almost in his head because it's dangerous."

Asked if the Braves intentionally tried to hit Harper, manager Davey Johnson said, "I hope not because it's ridiculous. A close ballgame. They have a lot more to lose than we do at this point. So it would be a ridiculous thing to be doing."

Harper wasn't available for comment, but Nationals left-hander Ian Krol remembered when the Braves hit Harper with a pitch the last time these two clubs met. On Aug. 6, right-hander Julio Teheran hit the side of Harper's right thigh with a four-seam fastball on the first pitch one at-bat after homering off the right-hander. The benches and bullpens emptied, but no punches were thrown.

"They did that the last time we played them. We like to play civilized," Krol said. "We don't like to cheap shot anybody. We go out there and work our tails off. Hopefully, the outcome of the game goes our way."