Harper walks off Phillies again, leads Nats to 6-4 victory

Bryce Harper walked off the Phillies again.

Harper blasted a pitch from Edubray Ramos over the center field wall with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Nationals a 6-4 victory to complete another impressive comeback.

Harper's 11th homer of the season was the fifth walk-off blast of his career, his second this season. Both of those have come against the Phillies, his latest blast bringing the Nats back from an early 4-0 deficit.

Tied heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Nationals got their rally started by Adam Lind, who led off with a single to right, leaving him 7-for-12 as a pinch-hitter this year. After Trea Turner struck out and Chris Heisey fouled back a bunt attempt, Harper stepped to the plate and blasted the pitch from Ramos to center to complete the win on a day he agreed to a $21.625 million contract for 2018.

The walk-off win was made possible in large part by the Nationals bullpen, which was bolstered by the return of both Koda Glover and Shawn Kelley from the disabled list and collectively tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings after Tanner Roark was knocked out early.

Jayson Werth departed the game in the top of the eighth, replaced in left field by Heisey. Werth, who dealt with a minor groin injury last month, slid hard into second base in the bottom of the seventh, perhaps aggravating something.

The Phillies made Roark work when they faced him five days ago, forcing 100 pitches in six innings. They made him work even more tonight, driving his pitch count up to 110 in only 4 2/3 innings.

Roark had opportunities to limit the damage and keep his pitch count down, but he could not finish off hitters. All four runs scored off the right-hander came with two outs and two strikes on the batter.

Michael Saunders' two-out single in the top of the fourth gave the Phillies their first lead of the game. Cameron Rupp's two-run single a few minutes later extended that lead to 3-0.

By the time Aaron Altherr drew a two-out walk in the top of the fifth, manager Dusty Baker decided he had seen enough and pulled Roark in favor of Joe Blanton. The veteran reliever, like his predecessor, was one pitch away from escaping the jam but couldn't finish it off. Tommy Joseph doubled to left, leaving the Nationals in a 4-0 hole.

It didn't take long for the Nats to bounce right back, though. They scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth against Nick Pivetta to tie the game in impressive fashion.

Turner got things started when he drove an 0-1 pitch to right-center, clearing the fence for a two-run homer. After a pair of walks, Ryan Zimmerman stepped to the plate with a chance to do some damage against Pivetta, against whom he homered last weekend.

Zimmerman didn't homer this time, but he did drive yet another outside pitch to right-center, dropping a two-run double into the gap. That game-tying hit raised Zimmerman's batting average to .400 and raised his RBI total to 36, exceeding the number of games the Nationals have played this season.

The game tied and their starter out, the Nationals needed quality work from their beleaguered bullpen. They got one scoreless inning from Jacob Turner, then got a combined two scoreless frames from Enny Romero and Glover (who made his return from the disabled list and impressed).

Kelley issued two walks in the ninth but completed a scoreless inning of his own to give the Nats lineup a shot at winning the game.