Harper launches fifth homer in seven games (Nats win 4-3)

PHOENIX - Others in the Nationals lineup may be slumping a bit right now. Bryce Harper most certainly is not.

The slugger continued his recent torrid stretch at the plate tonight, blasting a towering home run off Diamondbacks rookie Anthony Banda in the top of the first to give the Nationals a quick 1-0 lead at Chase Field.

Harper's homer against the lefty, who is making his major league debut, landed on the concourse that sits high above the pool in right-center field here. No official measurement was provided, but others hit toward that area in the past have measured 450 feet, give or take.

The homer extended Harper's career-best hitting streak to 15 games. It also was his fifth homer in seven games, giving him 25 total on the season to go along with 74 RBIs.

As he rounded the bases, Harper also sported a .481 batting average over his last 14 games, a torrid stretch that has raised his season average from .313 to .339.

Harper's blast has produced the Nationals' lone run off Banda through four innings. They've come up with four hits against the rookie southpaw but have stranded two men on base and also seen Brian Goodwin get thrown out trying to stretch a third-inning double into a triple.

Tanner Roark has been effective himself through four innings, striking out seven Arizona batters (six on either curveballs or sliders, a departure from his usual approach of throwing two-seam fastballs with two strikes).

Roark's lone mistake came in the bottom of the first, when he allowed a one-out single to A.J. Pollock and then a two-out RBI double to Chris Iannetta that barely found its way down the third base line in fair territory.

That run-scoring hit by Iannetta tied the game, 1-1, which is where it remains heading to the fifth.

Update: After struggling to string together hits the first two times around the order against Banda, the Nationals exploded their third trip around against the rookie. Chris Heisey ignited a sixth-inning rally with a one-out triple into the left-field corner. That gave Harper the chance to bat with a man on base for only the second time in his last 12 plate appearances, and he delivered an RBI double to left to give the Nats the lead. Moments later, Ryan Zimmerman smoked a double off the center field wall to bring home Harper. And when Anthony Rendon beat out a chopper to third to bring Zimmerman home, the Nats had themselves a 4-1 lead.

Roark did give one run back in the bottom of the sixth via a Pollock triple and Jake Lamb RBI groundout. So it's 4-2 now, but Roark has otherwise been excellent, with 10 strikeouts (a season-high) in six innings.

Update II: Ryan Madson has delivered again in a big spot. Entrusted with the eighth inning and a two-run lead, the newly acquired reliever gave up a one-out double but then retired both David Peralta and Pollock on ground balls to short. That's three straight scoreless appearances for Madson since joining the team. And he will allow the Nats to take a 4-2 lead into the ninth.

Update III: Sean Doolittle promised after his escape act in Anaheim that all his save opportunities wouldn't be like that. Well, this was sure was. After issuing a leadoff walk, then watching Rendon throw away a double-play ball, Doolittle found himself in another jam tonight. But despite giving up one run, he escaped with a 4-3 victory, improving to 2-for-2 in save opportunities with his new club. Breathe easy, folks, the Nationals won.