Harper homers, Nats top Braves

Published 4:00 am Sunday, May 10, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bryce Harper stood at the plate with one more unexpected chance to keep his home-run streak going.

Atlanta had rallied from five runs down, so here was Washington’s cleanup hitter, looking to put an end to a game that had somehow reached the bottom of the ninth inning.

Swinging hard at a curveball that nearly hit the dirt, Harper did it again — extending his remarkable run with a two-run shot that sent the Nationals past the Braves 8-6 Saturday.

“Right when I hit it, I knew it was gone,” he said.

Harper homered for the sixth time in his last three games, one off the major league record set by Shawn Green in 2002.

At 22, Harper had already become the youngest player in big league history to hit five home runs in two games. His one-out drive pushed the Nationals, a preseason favorite to win the World Series, over .500 for the first time this year.

“It looked like (catcher Christian) Bethancourt was going to go pick it out of the dirt, but when the guy is going that good, that hot, you’re almost going to have to bounce it there,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “And maybe even then he could hit it out of the ballpark.”

Harper homered three times versus Miami on Wednesday and connected twice against Atlanta on Friday night. On Saturday, his teammates ripped his jersey in the home-plate scrum, then pitcher Max Scherzer punctuated the party with the team’s newest victory celebration — he poured chocolate sauce over Harper during a postgame interview.

“Around the bases, got to home plate, and to enjoy that with the team is huge,” Harper said.

The Nationals blew a 6-1 lead before rebounding in the ninth against Cody Martin (1-1). Yunel Escobar had a leadoff single, Jayson Werth struck out and Harper hit his 11th home run on a 1-0 pitch.

“Certainly, we don’t expect him to hit a home run every day,” manager Matt Williams said. “But he can get in streaks like this where he sees the ball very well.”

Harper has 12 RBIs in his last three games. He also made a nifty, running catch in right field in the eighth inning.

Drew Storen (1-0) pitched the top of the ninth for the win.

Washington has won nine of 11, going 4-0 against the Braves in that span. The Nationals were 7-13 before getting on a roll with three straight victories in Atlanta.

Harper hit it big on a day the Nationals celebrated their 10th season in Washington by having Hall of Fame slugger Frank Robinson throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Robinson was the Nationals’ manager in their first two years after moving from Montreal.