Washington: Bryce Harper did it again, extending his remarkable homer streak with a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning that sent the Washington Nationals over the Atlanta Braves 8-6 on Saturday.
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 pre-season favourite to win the World Series, over .500 for the first time this year.
Harper homered three times versus Miami on Wednesday and connected twice against Atlanta on Friday night. His teammates ripped his jersey in the home-plate scrum, then Max Scherzer punctuated the party with the team’s newest victory celebration — he poured chocolate sauce over Harper during a post-game interview.
The Nationals blew a five-run lead before rebounding in the ninth against Cody Martin (1-1). Drew Storen (1-0) pitched the top of the ninth for the win.
Chris Davis hit one of Baltimore’s three home runs, Wei-Yin Chen won for the first time this season and the Orioles snapped a four-game slide.
Jimmy Paredes had three hits, including a solo homer, and Alejandro de Aza added a two-run drive off Chase Whitley to give the Orioles their first win this week in New York. Baltimore lost a pair of inter-league games to the Mets at Citi Field before dropping the first two in a four-game series at Yankee Stadium.
Delmon Young knocked in two runs to build up the cushion for Chen (1-1), who scattered five hits over seven innings. He struck out a season-high seven and walked one, yielding only John Ryan Murphy’s sacrifice fly.
Chris Carter and Colby Rasmus hit two-run homers and Dallas Keuchel pitched into the seventh inning in Houston’s victory. Jose Altuve also hit an early homer off Matt Shoemaker (2-3) for the AL West-leading Astros, who won for just the second time in six games following their 10-game winning streak.
Mike Trout homered and had three hits for the Angels, but was intentionally walked by Chad Qualls after Kole Calhoun’s two-out RBI double in the ninth.
