After near misses, Harper finally homers in Arizona (Nats win 6-4)

PHOENIX - Bryce Harper spent all weekend crushing pitches to every corner of Chase Field without having anything to show for it. Finally, tonight he launched one farther than the park or its newly installed humidor could contain.

With a green light on a 3-0 pitch from Zack Godley in the top of the third, Harper sent a 448-foot home run soaring into the back of the right field bleachers, only a few rows shy of a bright red truck on display on the concourse.

Harper's 13th home run of the season, his first in nine days, gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead over the Diamondbacks in their quest to sweep a four-game series from the team with the best record in the National League.

It came in the final game of a series that has seen Harper and several other teammates make the kind of contact that typically leads to home runs but could not find the seats here at usually hitter-friendly Chase Field. One theory being espoused in the visitors' clubhouse all weekend: the humidor that is now being used here to keep baseballs from getting too dry in the desert (much like the one in place for years at Coors Field in Denver) is having a dramatic impact.

The Nats jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, thanks to the two guys batting around Harper in the lineup. Trea Turner led off the game with a walk, then stole second, then scored on Howie Kendrick's RBI single to right-center.

Handed that lead, Jeremy Hellickson went right to work and picked up where he left off earlier this week in San Diego when he carried a perfect game into the seventh inning. Hellickson retired the first seven Arizona batters he faced tonight, needing only 15 pitches to complete his first two innings.

The Diamondbacks did get on the board in the bottom of the third, though, when Ketel Marte singled and scored on David Peralta's triple into the right field corner, trimming the Nationals' lead to 2-1.

Update: They opened the roof after the fourth inning here, and the Nats immediately took advantage of the warmer air by crushing two solo home runs. Turner was first up, lining a ball into the left field bullpen. Mark Reynolds, who hit quite a few homers here as a Diamondback, followed with his first as a National. Up 4-1 in the middle of the sixth, Davey Martinez then decided to go with the numbers and pull Hellickson since he had faced the opponents' lineup twice. Hellickson, who only threw 61 pitches, certainly won't be happy about it, but this is the way the Nats are handling him. Sammy Solís takes over for the bottom of the sixth.

Update II: Things have taken a dramatic turn here, and not for the positive from the Nats' perspective. Though Solís and Trevor Gott combined to get through the sixth unscathed, Brandon Kintzler could not get through the seventh. The right-hander gave up three runs on four hits, with Daniel Descalso's two-out, two-run double tying the game at 4-4. After Hellickson retired 15 of 18 batters, Nats relievers retired only five of the first 11 batters they faced. That's not good, especially when the starter was pulled after only 61 pitches.

Update III: This just became "The Mark Reynolds Game." Two innings after he blasted his first homer as a National, the veteran slugger blasted his second homer as a National, this one a two-run shot to deep left-center off Archie Bradley to give his new team a 6-4 lead over his old team heading to the bottom of the eighth.

Update IV: Ballgame. Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle combined to record the final seven outs for the Nationals and wrap up a 6-4 victory. Behind Reynolds' two big blasts, the Nats complete a four-game sweep of the Diamondbacks and head home after a 6-1 West Coast trip a season-best six games over .500.