Harper thrills hometown crowd in Home Run Derby,

WASHINGTON — The ball cleared the center-field wall, and the sellout crowd roared. Bryce Harper threw his bat in the air, thrust both index fingers skyward and yelled with delight as a shower of streamers rained upon the crowd of 43,698.

It could have been a scene from a playoff game. That it was merely the All-Star Home Run Derby mattered not to Harper or Nationals fans, who were thrilled to see their hometown hero deliver the night’s final longball Monday.

In the midst of a trying season — Harper grabbed the microphone and said: “This crowd: Wow! Washington Nationals, baby!”

With an exceptional display of power, he rallied in the final round, connecting on pitches from his father to beat Kyle Schwarber of the Cubs 19-18. Harper hit the winning blast in extra time, the reward for hitting two homers at least 440 feet in 4 minutes of regulation.

Harper trailed 18-9 with 1:20 left before rallying. He homered on nine of his last 10 swings before entering extra time.

The six-time All-Star arranged to have his dad, Ron, pitch to him in the annual contest on the eve of the AllStar Game. That made the victory even sweeter. “I’m only as good as my BP guy,” Harper said with a grin.

Hours before the session, Harper spoke excitedly about having his dad pitch to him. The 25-year-old said his father “worked his tail off every single day to provide for me and my family” and “now being able to have him throw to me in a big league ballpark is the cherry on top.”

It’s been a tough year for Harper, who’s hitting only .214 for the disappointing Nationals. He won a contest that many sluggers avoid, fearful it might wear them out and throw them off.

The 2015 NL MVP beat Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves and Max Muncy of the Dodgers before trumping the fifth-seeded Schwarber, who put the pressure on with a solid outing before Harper stepped to the plate. Harper, who has 23 home runs this season, advanced to the final with an astonishing spree of longball hitting. He trailed Max Muncy of the Dodgers 12-4 with 2:20 left, then peeled off six homers in 47 seconds before calling a timeout.

Harper returned to hit three more home runs in 22 seconds.

The semifinal matchup between Schwarber and Philadelphia’s Rhys Hoskins went down to the final swing. After stunning top-seed Jesus Aguilar of Milwaukee in the opening round, the eighthseeded Hoskins ripped 20 long balls to put the pressure on Schwarber. Using a late surge, Schwarber pulled one ball after another over the right field wall to squeeze out a 21-20 victory — by far the highest-scoring matchup of the night.

The most thrilling firstround match featured a near buzzer-beater by Houston’s Alex Bregman, who fell to Schwarber 16-15. The difference was the pair of homers that Schwarber hit during 30 seconds of extra time.

Muncy advanced by defeating No. 6 seed Javier Baez of the Cubs, 16-15. Baez hit the longest shot of the Derby, a 479-footer.