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WASHINGTON — Standing at the plate with a chance to make baseball history, Bryce Harper insisted his focus was on driving in the runner from third base.
He did, however, acknowledge the thought of hitting a fourth home run wasn’t entirely banished to the back of his mind.
Harper homered three times in a game for the first time and had five RBIs in his finest day with the Nationals, leading Washington over the Miami Marlins 7-5 Wednesday for its third straight series win.
Harper hit a 393-foot solo shot in the second inning, a 442-foot, two-run drive in the third and 445-foot bases-empty homer in the fifth, the last two reaching the second deck. Each came on the second pitch of the at-bat off Tom Koehler (2-3), and they raised Harper’s season total to eight.
With an opportunity to tie major league record of four homers in a game, Harper hit a run-scoring groundout to second base against Sam Dyson in the seventh.
“Going up there against Dyson, runner on third base, you’re trying to get that run in,” Harper said. “Of course you want to try to get that fourth homer. That’s something that would’ve been very cool to get.”
It didn’t happen, but Harper could console himself with reaching career highs in homers and RBIs. Now in his fourth major league season, he previously hit two homers in a game on five occasions.
He would like to think this kind performance, rather than the 1-for-17 slide that preceded it, would typify his style of play.
“That’s how I should be. Plain and simple,” Harper said. “That’s how I expect myself to play. Of course you’re not going to do that every single day. You’re not going to go out there and hit three homers, drive in five. But that’s the type of player I need to be.”
He became the fourth Nationals player to hit three homers in game following Alfonso Soriano (2006), Adam Dunn (2010), and Ryan Zimmerman (2013).
Reds 3, Pirates 0
PITTSBURGH — Mike Leake worked eight innings for his sixth straight victory over Pittsburgh and Marlon Byrd homered for the second night in a row in Cincinnati’s win.
Leake allowed six hits and has not lost to the Pirates in 15 starts, dating to 2012.
Padres 9, Giants 1
SAN FRANCISCO — Ian Kennedy struck out five in seven innings to win his second straight start, and San Diego beat San Francisco to avoid a sweep and stop the Giants’ eight-game home streak.
Rookie Austin Hedges hit an RBI single in the decisive five-run third for his first major league hit, then added a sacrifice fly in the eighth. He earned his first start at catcher, two days after being called up from Triple-A El Paso on Monday.
D’backs sweep Rockies
DENVER — Paul Goldschmidt homered and Robbie Ray threw six strong innings in a spot start, helping Arizona complete its first doubleheader road sweep since 2006 with a 5-1 victory over scuffling Colorado.
In the opening game, Aaron Hill tied a career high with four RBIs, including a three-run homer, as the Diamondbacks breezed to a 13-7 win.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Blue Jays 5, Yankees 1
TORONTO — Russell Martin homered, and Mark Buehrle earned a victory over the Yankees for the first time in more than a decade.
Martin went 3 for 4 and Chris Colabello had a career-high four hits as Toronto took two of three from the AL East-leading Yankees.
Buehrle came in with a 1-14 record in his career against New York, and was 0-12 with a 7.27 ERA in 17 starts against them since his lone victory.
INTERLEAGUE
Mets 5, Orioles 1
NEW YORK — Jacob deGrom bounced back from two subpar starts with seven overpowering innings, Dilson Herrera hit his first homer of the season among three hits and New York won its eighth straight over Baltimore.
DeGrom (3-3) struck out nine, yielding six hits and a run after allowing at least five runs in consecutive starts for the first time in his career.