After getting a day off on Wednesday, Bryce Harper hit his first home run in nearly two weeks on Thursday as the Washington Nationals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals.

Harper hit a solo shot off Mike Leake that had an exit velocity of 112.8 mph and traveled an estimated 437 feet.

It it caromed off the facade of the third deck in right field in Washington, a faraway destination only two other players have ever reached (Adam LaRoche, Adam Dunn).

"It felt good," Harper said. "Got a pitch I could handle, and did some damage with it. Just happy we came out with that W.

"I mean, you just try to square up the ball every time, and I haven't been doing that. When I'm getting one or two pitches a game, you foul them back and then they throw something dirty and they get you. If I don't hit those pitches that are in the zone, then you're gonna struggle and do the things that you don't wanna do. Obviously I got a pitch I could handle tonight, and I’m gonna do some damage with it."

Bryce Harper appeared as a pinch hitter for the Washington Nationals on Wednesday afternoon after not starting against the New York Mets.

Harper hit in the eighth inning and grounded out to shortstop.

He is batting a season-low .246 and struggling since mid-April. Dusty Baker said before the game that he wanted the 23-year-old to take a "mental day off."

That included not starting against the Mets and skipping any work in the batting cage.

"I told him to do nothing, just concentrate and watch the game," Baker said. "You can straighten yourself out by watching others and by what they're doing or not doing."

Baker said Harper "was cool with" the decision.

Jayson Werth was owed a crippling $21 million per season over the next two years before he agreed to amend his contract with the Washington Nationals this past winter.

FOX Sports obtained a copy of Werth's contract, which was amended on Oct. 15 to defer $10 million of his 2016 salary at five percent simple interest. The money will be paid in 2018, according to a source.

Werth's original seven-year deal didn't include any deferrals.

Stephen Strasburg agreed to a seven-year, $175 million contract extension with the Washington Nationals earlier this month, forgoing free agency this coming winter.

The decision was notable because Strasburg's agent, Scott Boras, is famous for his preference of taking his clients into the open market.

The upcoming free agent class is thin, but Strasburg has opt-outs in his contract after either year three or four.

The first opt out comes when Strasburg is 31 and has perhaps established a stronger track record.

"Even better, Strasburg would hit the market soon after Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta and Jose Fernandez are likely to establish new ceilings for starting pitchers in the coming free-agent years," writes Ken Rosenthal.

Yoenis Cespedes says he wasn't close to accepting a reported five-year contract offer from the Washington Nationals this past offseason.

Cespedes eventually signed a three-year, $75 million contract with the New York Mets that includes an opt-out after this season.

"I was never close to signing with the Nationals," Cespedes said through an interpreter. "From the start I was pushing my agent because I wanted to come back to the Mets."

Barry Bonds wants to see Bryce Harper use his speed on the bases more often.

Harper, who draws a lot of walks, has been receiving intentional passes lately as well. Bonds was issued more free passes than anyone in baseball history at the height of his power surge.

"He's going to need to learn to steal bases and get to second base and make his teammates' job easier," Bonds said of Harper.

The Chicago Cubs walked Harper 13 times during a four-game series earlier this month and he scored only three runs.

"My kids used to tell me, 'Daddy, I'm sorry they walk you all the time,'" said Bonds, who led baseball in intentional walks 12 times and tops the all-time list with 688. "I said, 'Yeah, but my job's now to steal.' I could run then, so I had to steal bases and my job's to score runs and keep the pressure on the team regardless of what happened. But I had a different game than him."

Nationals star Bryce Harper dropped his appeal and served a one-game suspension in the second game of Saturday's day-night doubleheader between Washington and the Miami Marlins.

In an interview about his seven-year, $175 million contract extension with the Washington Nationals, Stephen Strasburg discussed some of the motivation behind the decision.

Strasburg wants to follow in the footsteps of Tony Gwynn, his childhood hero and coach at San Diego State, and play for one team during his Major League career.

"He definitely had that sense of loyalty," Strasburg said of Gwynn. "I think there were certainly times in his career where he could've gone other places, but the city, San Diego, kind of grew on him, and he became an icon in that city. I'm not about to say that I'm going to be on his level here in D.C., but I think you do have some sort of sense of loyalty to the team that did draft you, at least speaking for myself. So, when the opportunity presented itself that, here's a fair deal presented to you, it didn't really take long to make my mind up."

Nationals starter Max Scherzer reminded us Wednesday that he's one of the premier pitchers in the game.

Facing the Detroit Tigers, his former team and the only one he'd never beaten, Scherzer fanned 20 batters, tying the major league record for most strikeouts in a nine-inning game.

Bryce Harper has been suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed sum for confronting an umpire following his ejection from Monday night's game, Major League Baseball announced in a press release.

Harper has elected to file an appeal and was in the lineup for the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.