WASHINGTON -- Standing at the plate with a chance to be a part of 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 hit three home runs in a game for the first time and had five RBI in his finest day with the Nationals, leading Washington over the Miami Marlins 7-5 Wednesday for its third consecutive series victory.
Harper hit a 393-foot shot in the second inning, a 442-foot, two-run drive in the third and 445-foot bases-empty home run 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 the major league record of four home runs 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 home runs and RBI. Now in his fourth major league season, he previously hit two home runs 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 home runs in a game following Alfonso Soriano (2006), Adam Dunn (2010), and Ryan Zimmerman (2013).
Harper was 2 for 15 against Koehler before connecting three times over a six-pitch span.
"I made three mistakes against him and he hit the ball hard three times," Koehler lamented. "Fastball away that stayed up, fastball in that was up and came back over the plate and a slider that just kind of spun up there."
Max Scherzer (2-3) struck out 10 and allowed 5 runs and 10 hits over 7-plus innings. He entered with a 1.26 ERA but Washington scored a total of two runs in his three defeats.
Scherzer was pulled after giving up a three-run home run to Giancarlo Stanton in the eighth, but Harper did enough beforehand to make Miami's late surge meaningless.
"We're seeing him grow right in front of our eyes," Scherzer said of his teammate. "That's special."
Drew Stroren got three outs for his eighth save, sealing the Nationals' second victory in the three-game series.
With Harper leading the way, Washington hit two homers, three doubles and a single over the first three innings while building a 4-2 lead.
The barrage began in the second, when Harper hit an opposite-field drive to left on a 1-0 pitch.
In the third, two doubles and a sacrifice fly by Yunel Escobar made it 2-2 before another Harper home run put the Nationals ahead for good.
Harper connected in the fifth inning with such force that Stanton stood motionless in right field, looking toward the infield as the ball soared into the seats behind him.
CUBS 6, CARDINALS 5 Anthony Rizzo homered with three RBI and Jon Lester had a strong outing for visiting Chicago, which ended St. Louis’ eight-game winning streak and its own four-game skid with a victory.
PADRES 9, GIANTS 1 Ian Kennedy struck out five in seven innings to win his second consecutive start, and San Diego beat host San Francisco to avoid a sweep.
REDS 3, PIRATES 0 Mike Leake worked eight innings for his sixth consecutive victory over Pittsburgh and Marlon Byrd homered fas visiting Cincinnati beat the skidding Pirates.
BRAVES 7, PHILLIES 5 Andrelton Simmons had three hits, including a home run, Freddie Freeman drove in three runs with three hits and host Atlanta beat Philadelphia.
BREWERS 6, DODGERS 3 Adam Lind homered and doubled and Milwaukee scored five runs in the first inning off Joe Wieland in a victory over visiting Los Angeles.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
INDIANS 10, ROYALS 3 Just about everyone in the Cleveland lineup drove in a run, Carlos Carrasco tossed seven sharp innings and the Indians rolled to a victory over host Kansas City.
RANGERS 11, ASTROS 3 Carlos Peguero hit two home runs, Shin-Soo Choo had a two-run shot and visiting Texas routed Houston.
BLUE JAYS 5, YANKEES 1 Russell Martin homered, Mark Buehrle earned a victory over the Yankees for the first time in more than a decade and host Toronto beat New York.
RAYS 5, RED SOX 3 Evan Longoria hit two solo home runs, Kevin Jepsen worked out of an eighth-inning jam and visiting Tampa Bay beat Boston.
TWINS 13, ATHLETICS 0 Eddie Rosario homered on the first pitch he saw in his major league career, Eduardo Escobar also homered and had five RBI, and host Minnesota beat Oakland.
WHITE SOX 7, TIGERS 6 Melky Cabrera homered and drove in four runs, and Chicago scored four times in the eighth inning to rally past visiting Detroit.
INTERLEAGUE
METS 5, ORIOLES 1 Jacob deGrom pitched seven strong innings, Dilson Herrera hit his first home run of the season among three hits and host New York won its eighth consecutive over Baltimore.
Sports on 05/07/2015