Bryce Harper ties MLB record with five homers in two games
What would Bryce Harper do for an encore after Wednesday’s epic three-homer, five-RBI game?
How about two more home runs and another five RBIs in the Washington Nationals 9-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
In doing so, Harper became the youngest player in MLB history to ever hit five home runs in a two-game span. That’s according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The feat itself has been duplicated numerous times in MLB history, but it’s never been topped. The most recent, according to ESPN Stats & Info, was Oakland A’s outfielder Josh Reddick in 2013.
Harper is also the first player in Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise history to do it, so he’s definitely written his name in the history books with those mighty five swings.
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As for Friday’s game, Harper was quiet in the first five innings with a strikeout and a single in the fourth. He was thrown out trying to extend that single into a double, which is actually just as good a sign as any that Harper is feeling good.
The first homer was a two-run, opposite field shot off Eric Stults in the sixth inning. That gave Washington a 3-2 lead it would obviously never relinquish.
The second was a three-run shot to right field in the bottom of the eighth, which extended the lead to 7-2 and served as the icing on the cake. It wasn’t an upper deck shot like the final two on Wednesday, but it was plenty impressive and a sign now that opposing pitchers should look elsewhere for awhile when attempting to locate outs in Washington’s lineup.
Here’s a look at the damage from another perspective. After a relatively slow start — Harper was hitting .245/.405/.457 with five homers and 15 RBIs entering play on Wednesday he’s suddenly batting .284/.426/.627 with 10 home runs and 25 RBI.
For most players, that was three weeks to one month of production in two games.
For Bryce Harper, it’s history, and perhaps the beginning of him finally shedding every label associated with his name that doesn’t read All-Star or impact player.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
