Rendon, Harper combine for 3 HRs vs. Mets

NEW YORK -- Perhaps it is the sound of the 7 train rumbling in the distance. Perhaps it is the home run apple, which emerges from an all-black batter's eye, the best kind for hitting. Whatever the amenities, Anthony Rendon and Bryce Harper continue to find comfort at Citi Field, their ostensible home away from home.
Rendon and Harper continued their career-wide success at Citi on Thursday, their trio of homers providing all of the Nats' offense in a 5-4 win over the Mets. Rendon has now hit 15 home runs in his career against New York, his most against any team, and 10 in Queens, his most anywhere except Nationals Park.
Harper's 23rd homer of the year also gave him 23 in his career against New York, tied with Philadelphia for his second-most against any team; he has 24 against Miami. He's now hit 12 at Citi Field, his second-highest total at any visiting park behind his 13 at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park.

"I see the ball pretty well here," said Rendon. "We're in the same division, so we come here a lot. The comfortability comes with the repetition."
"Everyone knows he's a special player. He should be at the All-Star Game, and I'm sad he's not," Harper said. "He's one of the best third basemen in the game. He doesn't get enough respect for the way he plays the hot corner and the way he swings the bat."
For Harper, who will start Tuesday's All-Star Game presented by Mastercard (7:30 p.m. ET on FOX) and participate in Monday's T-Mobile Home Run Derby (8 p.m. on ESPN), his two-run shot off Jerry Blevins in the seventh was his second homer in four games. He'd homered just three times in his previous 27.
"He was really quiet," Nats manager Dave Martinez said. "Those are the kind of at-bats that might turn things around for him. He crushed that ball. Hopefully that'll get him going over the next few days."