Bryce Harper downs Phillies with epic home run and bat flip

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.

One swing of the bat provided all of the offense in the Nationals 3-0 win against the Phillies on Saturday night. That one swing was provided by Bryce Harper, who connected for an epic three-run homer against reliever Patrick Shuster in the eighth inning.

It was an exhilarating moment for Harper, who entered the game with only four home runs dating back to the All-Star break. He’s made good contact of late, but hasn’t made contact that felt that good in a long, long time. That really showed after Harper launched the baseball, because he celebrated by launching an epic bat flip.

We’re talking Jose Bautista territory.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you flip a baseball bat. Such terrific poise, form and fluidity leading right into the home run trot.

Also, the intensity was an 11 on a scale of 1-10.

On Saturday, we wrote about how Trea Turner was the outfielder truly making Nationals baseball fun this season.

Pardon our mistake, Mr. Harper. It’s still your show.

TOP PERFORMERS

J.A. Happ: Boston’s Rick Porcello became baseball’s first 20-game winner on Friday. Another surprising AL East starter is on pace to join him. That would be J.A. Happ after he improved to 18-4 in the Blue Jays 3-2 win over the Red Sox. Happ allowed two runs on four hits over six quality innings. He was supported by Melvin Upton Jr., who delivered a two-run homer in the second inning.

Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy: The former Brewers continue making a huge impact for the Rangers. In their 8-5 win against the Angels, Gomez and Lucroy combined to go 4-for-10 with three home runs, a double and six RBIs, to pace the Rangers relentless attack. For Gomez, that’s four home runs in 16 games for the Rangers after hitting five in 85 games this season for Houston. As for Lucroy, that’s 10 homers in 31 games for Texas. He hit 13 in 95 games with Milwaukee.

Matt Wieters: The Baltimore Orioles did not throw a kind welcome back party for Jordan Zimmermann. The Tigers right-hander recorded just three outs, which is the same number of home runs he allowed. Adam Jones and Chris Davis both homered in the first inning. Wieters connected in the second, and gets special mention because he later hit a three-run homer that blew the Orioles 11-3 win wide open.

Hunter Pence: If it seems like Pence has been scoring a run every time you’ve looked up the past two days, that’s because he probably has. He’s scored eight of them to be exact over the Giants last two games. That’s four in Friday’s win, and four more in Saturday’s 11-3 drubbing of the Diamondbacks. Needless to say, back-to-back games of that nature don’t happen very often.

But hey, at least we know his hamstring has been tested.

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT

The topic of the night ended up being Dave Roberts’ decision to pull Rich Hill seven innings into a perfect game bid. Had a perfect game been completed in any form or fashion, the talk of the night would have been this incredible catch by Yasiel Puig. Puig’s grab ended up being the last out recorded by Hill, and was still an awesome moment in the Dodgers 5-0 win over the Marlins.

REST OF SCOREBOARD

Astros 2, Cubs 1: If you love pitching you’re enjoying this series. After the Cubs won 2-0 on Friday, Colin McHugh and four Astros relievers limited Chicago to one run on two hits Saturday.

Yankees 5, Rays 1: You’ll never guess who homered again for the Yankees. Or maybe you will. Gary Sanchez hit No. 13 in his 35th MLB game, which paced the Yankees seventh straight victory.

Braves 4, Mets 3 (10 innings): Meanwhile, the Mets six-game winning streak ended with a thud. They fell to the last place Braves on Adonis Garcia’s walk-off single.

Mariners 14, A’s 3: This one was all Seattle from their two-run first inning to their six-run seventh. Seven different players had multi-hit games, with Nelson Cruz collecting three and driving in three runs. Kyle Seager hit the Mariners only home run.

Reds 8, Pirates 7: Cincinnati overcame an early 4-0 deficit to win its second straight against Pittsburgh. Joey Votto finished with four hits, including his 23rd home run.

Twins 2, Indians 1 (12 innings): Cleveland missed an opportunity to gain further separation from Detroit. They fell on Joe Mauer’s walk-off single.

Royals 6, White Sox 5: The big news here is that Lorenzo Cain’s season may be over due to on-going wrist issues.

Cardinals 5, Brewers 1: St. Louis picked up one of its more important wins thanks to a five-run ninth-inning rally. The biggest hit belonged to Stephen Piscotty, who drove in two with a double.

Padres 6, Rockies 3: San Diego roughed up Jon Gray for six runs in the first two innings. The road Rockies were unable to recover.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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