PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper knows everyone in the dugout and ballpark expects him to get clutch hits in moments just like this.

Boy, he crushed it.

Harper blasted a grand slam with one out in the ninth inning, capping a six-run rally that sent the Philadelphia Phillies over the Chicago Cubs 7-5 Thursday night for a three-game sweep.

Harper delivered his biggest hit yet in his first season after signing a $330 million, 13-year contract with the Phillies, celebrating while running around the bases and then getting mobbed by teammates at the plate.

"That was sick. Wow, I don't even know. I mean, that was awesome. Oh my gosh," he said.

Harper added of his walk-off shot: "Besides winning the division and getting to the playoffs, that was one of the coolest moments I've ever had in my life."

Cubs starter Yu Darvish struck out 10, silencing Philadelphia's bats for seven innings a night after the Phillies scored 11 runs in former manager Charlie Manuel's debut as hitting coach.

But the Phillies rallied against Chicago's bullpen and moved within one game of the Cubs for the second wild-card spot in the National League.

Pinch hitter Brad Miller chased Rowan Wick with an RBI single in the ninth that cut it to 5-2, and Roman Quinn greeted Pedro Strop with an RBI single to make it a two-run game. Strop (2-5) hit Rhys Hoskins to load the bases with one out.

Derek Holland entered to face Harper and got ahead 0-2 in the count. Harper fouled off a 2-2 pitch before launching his 25th homer way out to right.

"Before I went to the plate, I touched my heart and I was thinking to myself: 'Why am I not jittery? Why am I not excited?' But that's just how I am," Harper said. "I go up there and each at-bat is the same. I don't think about bases loaded. I try to get a pitch I can drive and hopefully good things happen. I love those moments. I love those opportunities. I think it helped me a lot from a young age going through those emotions and having those opportunities at 8, 9, 10 years old in big-time games going to different states and cities playing for a lot of teams."

"I just love it. It's a lot of fun. These fans do expect that and I expect to do that for them on a nightly basis -- and if I don't, they'll let me know and I like that, too," he said.

Harper now has six career walk-off home runs, the second-most since he made his major league debut in 2012, behind Josh Donaldson, who has seven, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

"I think everyone who watches baseball expects him to do that every time he's up," Phillies starter Drew Smyly said. "He's fun to watch."

Harper has seven homers and 15 RBIs in the past 12 games.

Ranger Suarez (4-1) tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win.

Anthony Rizzo, batting leadoff after the original lineup had him in his usual cleanup spot, gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the third when he hit his 22nd homer.

Ian Happ led off the fourth with a triple and scored on David Bote's double. Albert Almora Jr. hit an RBI single with two out, went to second on the throw home and advanced to third on shortstop Jean Segura's fielding error. Rizzo's single made it 4-0.

Kyle Schwarber slammed his 100th career homer and team-high 28th this season into the bushes in center field to put the Cubs ahead 5-0 in the fifth.

Corey Dickerson hit an RBI single with two out in the eighth off Wick, but right fielder Nicholas Castellanos threw out Hoskins trying to score from second on the play to end the inning.

"Darvish was outstanding but he was done," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said of lifting his starter.

SMYLY'S STRUGGLES

Smyly gave up five runs in five innings. He has an 8.04 ERA in his past three starts after allowing one run in 13 innings in his first two starts for the team.

ROSTER MOVE

The Phillies claimed righty Jared Hughes off waivers from the Reds. Hughes will join the bullpen this weekend. He was 3-4 with one save and a 4.10 ERA for Cincinnati.

TRAINER'S ROOM

CUBS: SS Javier Baez was scratched from the lineup because of an illness. ... RHP Craig Kimbrel (right knee inflammation) felt fine after another bullpen session and is closer to returning. ... RHP Brandon Kintzler (right pectoral inflammation) is expected to return Friday. ... OF Jason Heyward (left knee inflammation) wasn't in the lineup for the second straight game but entered in Thursday's ninth inning as a defensive replacement.

PHILLIES: RHP Edubray Ramos (shoulder) was moved to the 60-day injured list to make room on the 40-man roster for Hughes.

UP NEXT

Cubs: RHP Kyle Hendricks (8-9, 4.38 ERA) faces the Pirates in the start of a three-game series that will conclude a 10-game road trip.

Phillies: RHP Vince Velasquez (4-7, 4.30 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series against the San Diego Padres.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take the weekend off from broadcasting to be with his wife and daughter after the three were in a plane crash-landing Thursday near Bristol Motor Speedway.

The 44-year-old television analyst and former NASCAR Cup Series driver was taken to a hospital for evaluation after the crash in East Tennessee. Earnhardt was with his wife, Amy; 15-month-old daughter, Isla; a dog; and two pilots.

There were no serious injuries beyond cuts and abrasions, Carter County Sheriff Dexter Lunceford said.

"We're incredibly grateful that Dale, his wife Amy, daughter Isla, and the two pilots are safe following today's accident," NBC Sports said in a statement. "After being discharged from the hospital, we communicated with Dale and his team, and we're all in agreement that he should take this weekend off to be with his family.

"We look forward to having him back in the booth next month at Darlington."

Mike Davis, Earnhardt's manager, told ESPN's Marty Smith that Earnhardt and his family were traveling to their North Carolina home by car Thursday night.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said a Cessna Citation rolled off the end of a runway and caught fire after landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport at 3:40 p.m. CT on Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board tweeted that it was sending two representatives to Elizabethton to investigate the crash.

NEW: Video shows thick, black smoke rising from the site of a small plane crash that was carrying Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his family. Everyone on board, including Earnhardt, escaped the wreck, said the local sheriff. https://t.co/2nqljR6C5C pic.twitter.com/noizctpZVk

— ABC News (@ABC) August 15, 2019

This incident comes 26 years after former driver and 1992 Cup champion Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash while on his way to the spring race at Bristol from a promotional appearance in Knoxville, Tennessee. That crash at Tri-City Regional Airport in Blountville, Tennessee, killed four people.

Earnhardt was part of Rick Hendrick's racing team in 2011 when Hendrick broke a rib and his collarbone while on a small jet that lost its brakes and crash-landed in an airport at Key West, Florida. Hendrick's son, brother and twin nieces were among 10 people killed in a 2004 crash of a plane traveling to a race in Virginia.

This isn't the first fiery crash for Earnhardt. He still has a burn scar on his neck from a crash at Sonoma in 2004 during warm-ups for an American Le Mans Series race, which left him with second-degree burns.

Earnhardt has a history of concussions that plagued him over his final years as a driver.

He won NASCAR's most popular driver award a record 15 times, with 26 career Cup victories.

Earnhardt retired from Cup Series competition in 2017 after dealing with a number of concussions. He ran one Xfinity Series race in 2018 and is scheduled to drive in the Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Welcome to the NFL, rookie.

Kyler Murray learned how the other half lives Thursday against the Raiders, who blitzed the No. 1 overall pick and made him look uncomfortable. But it wasn't all bad for the youngsters as Week 2 of the preseason started, with Dwayne Haskins showing off his arm with a big touchdown pass against the Bengals.

We have all that and more in the biggest takeaways and fantasy football nuggets of the preseason's second week from NFL Nation:

Jump to a matchup:
PHI-JAX | NYJ-ATL | CIN-WSH | GB-BAL | OAK-ARI

Philadelphia Eagles 24, Jacksonville Jaguars 10

Carson Wentz should not touch the field this preseason. The QB injuries are piling up for Philadelphia. Cody Kessler was knocked out of the game in the first quarter Thursday because of a concussion, one week after backup Nate Sudfeld went down because of a broken wrist. Coach Doug Pederson has been ratcheting up the intensity at practice to give the first team quality work in a controlled environment. He should continue on that path and keep Wentz out of harm's way until the regular-season opener against Washington. The Eagles will probably have to add another arm this week with Kessler in concussion protocol. -- Tim McManus

QB Gardner Minshew needed a bounce-back performance after really struggling in the preseason opener and he delivered: 19-for-29 for 202 yards in three quarters despite being under pressure from the edge pretty much the entire night. Minshew did lose a fumble after getting hit (RT Leonard Wester got beat badly) and also had a TD pass called back because of a block-in-the-back penalty by TE Ben Koyack. Minshew also put together a solid two-minute drive at the end of the first half that resulted in a field goal, giving the Jaguars their first points of the preseason. Minshew was clearly much more comfortable than he was last week. He was decisive and got the ball out quickly, which are encouraging signs for the Jaguars --- who again sat the majority of their starters -- because they're counting on him to be the backup to Nick Foles. His performance Thursday night pretty much cemented that. -- Mike DiRocco

New York Jets 22, Atlanta Falcons 10

Playing behind a makeshift offensive line, QB Sam Darnold opened with a TD drive for the second straight week. The tempo was fast, and Darnold was in command. It's early, but he seems to have a firm grasp of the new offense. Big concern: RT Brandon Shell injured his knee in warm-ups, becoming the third offensive lineman to go down because of an injury. Chemistry will be an issue in Week 1. -- Rich Cimini

There has to be concern about the offensive line during Matt Ryan's first appearance this preseason. Ryan was sacked three times and threw under duress too much while completing 10 of 14 passes for 118 yards. Ryan absorbed some good hits, something you never want to see in the preseason. Right tackle Ty Sambrailo didn't look like a starter, and backup center Wes Schweitzer, among others, had some issues. The Falcons are playing without two injured players who were thought to be on track to start: left guard James Carpenter (quad) and rookie right tackle Kaleb McGary (heart procedure). Jamon Brown could start at left guard, and McGary, if healthy, should surpass the struggling Sambrailo at some point. -- Vaughn McClure

Cincinnati Bengals 23, Washington Redskins 13

Rookie Ryan Finley made a strong case to be Cincinnati's No. 2 quarterback this season. The fourth-round pick out of NC State followed up his preseason debut with another strong performance. Excluding a spike at the end of the first half, Finley was 20-of-25 passing for 150 yards and two touchdowns. The rookie steadied the Bengals after a start riddled with miscues. He led Cincinnati's second unit on a 12-play, 93-yard drive that took 7 minutes, 36 seconds off the clock in the first half. From there, the entire team found its rhythm, as the visitors scored 23 of the final 30 points. Halfway through the preseason, the rookie has completed 75% of his passes for 259 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. -- Ben Baby

The Redskins hoped the preseason would identify their No. 1 quarterback, but after two preseason games, that hasn't happened. Colt McCoy can't yet play because of issues with his leg, and Case Keenum has been ordinary in two starts. He's still adapting to the offense and getting in sync with his receivers, but being in a competition makes it tougher to build that chemistry. And rookie Dwayne Haskins shows more big-play potential -- as evidenced by his 55-yard touchdown pass to Robert Davis. He's not afraid to challenge down the field, but he also hasn't shown enough to seriously challenge more experienced players. But with what those players have shown, it's hard to believe Haskins won't be used at some point this season. -- John Keim

Baltimore Ravens 26, Green Bay Packers 13

It might be too soon to say the Packers have a serious problem with their run game -- after all, neither Aaron Jones nor Jamaal Williams (both have hamstring issues) have played a snap in the preseason -- but the installation of new coach Matt LaFleur's outside-zone-oriented scheme has been a rough go. The Packers totaled just 7 yards rushing on seven attempts in the first half a week after they had only 38 yards in 13 carries in the first half against the Texans. That's 45 yards in 20 carries when the opponents were playing starters or key backups. Any hope that sixth-round rookie Dexter Williams could serve as a change-of-pace back looks bleak given his inability to hang on to the ball (he dropped a pass and couldn't secure a handoff in which a fumble was charged to the quarterback). Tra Carson has been the starter in the absence of Jones and Jamaal Williams, but he's averaging just 1.7 yards per carry. As much as LaFleur's offense centers on the run game and what it can do for play-action, he needs to know if the lack of production is because he doesn't have his top backs or because the scheme hasn't taken hold. -- Rob Demovsky

Lamar Jackson continues to improve as a passer, but -- as the Ravens' starting quarterback showed and said Thursday night -- he's still at his most dangerous when running with the ball. On third-and-10, Jackson saw his receivers covered and took off, faking out Tramon Williams in the open field before leaping over Jaire Alexander to reach the end zone. The spectacular 18-yard touchdown run was nullified by Willie Snead's illegal block, but that doesn't erase another highlight-reel moment that will keep defensive coordinators up at night. "The four-man rush gave me a lane," Jackson said, "and I just did what I do best." Jackson finished 6-of-10 passing for 58 yards, leading the Ravens to field goals on both of his drives. -- Jamison Hensley

Oakland Raiders 33, Arizona Cardinals 26

The Raiders' defense, with a cast of new characters headlined by middle linebacker Vontaze Burfict, looks much improved. At least it did in this second exhibition for both teams, with Oakland harassing No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray into a 3-for-8 passing night for 12 yards, and defensive back Lamarcus Joyner sacking the nimble Murray for a safety. In four series, the Raiders' starting defense let Murray run only once -- for 4 yards. In fact, Joyner's safety came on the third straight blitz dialed up by defensive coordinator Paul Guenther. At one point, the Raiders had outgained the Cardinals 231-12 in total yards. Also, rookie Josh Jacobs looks primed to be the Raiders' feature back, starting and carrying the ball four times for 21 yards on their opening touchdown drive with Derek Carr under center, as the Raiders' starting offense played only one series. -- Paul Gutierrez

Thursday night was one to forget for Kyler Murray. The rookie quarterback went 3-for-8 for 12 yards with a 4-yard run and looked out of sync in the four possessions he played, which went into the second quarter. He was flagged twice for false starts because of his clap snap and once for delay of game, and went down in the end zone to avoid a sack for a safety. While, yes, it's still the preseason and the Cardinals are running a vanilla offensive scheme, there were still some issues Murray and the Cardinals need to clean up. -- Josh Weinfuss

Free-agent forward Patrick Patterson has agreed to a one-year, $2.3 million deal with the LA Clippers, league sources told ESPN.

Patterson and the Oklahoma City Thunder recently agreed to a buyout on the final season of his contract, allowing him to become a free agent.

The Clippers, with one available roster spot left now, are constructing a frontcourt bench to support its two new starting forwards -- Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Patterson gives the Clippers, who are expected to contend for a championship, one more serious-minded and accomplished veteran for their frontcourt rotation.

Patterson, 30, was unable to gain consistent traction in a role with the Thunder in his two seasons there. He averaged less than 10 minutes a game -- far different from his impactful previous three seasons with the Toronto Raptors. In nine NBA seasons, Patterson has averaged nearly seven points and four rebounds. He's had stops with the Rockets, Kings, Raptors and Thunder.

Brett Yormark, who has served as CEO of the Brooklyn Nets for more than a decade, will step down from his post, league sources confirmed to ESPN.

Yormark has been in the role since 2005, when he came to the Nets from NASCAR, and helped usher the franchise to Brooklyn from its prior homes in East Rutherford and Newark, New Jersey. Having initially come aboard under Bruce Ratner, Yormark stayed in his post during the ownership of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov over the past nine years.

But with Prokhorov set to sell the final 51% of the Nets -- and, eventually, Barclays Center -- to Joe Tsai, ending his tenure with the franchise, Yormark's time with the Nets is coming to a close as well.

Yormark -- like Prokhorov -- will be remembered for being part of getting the Nets across the Hudson River and into Brooklyn, a move that dramatically raised the profile of the franchise. He also was part of the team's brash, aggressive style early in its time in Brooklyn, an approach that led the Nets both to spend record amounts of luxury-tax money and to put the team in a massive hole in terms of draft capital lost thanks to the failed trade for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in 2013.

The sale to Tsai, and the departure of Yormark, will see Brooklyn head into one of the most anticipated seasons in franchise history with a fresh slate.

The Nets made arguably the biggest splash of any team in the NBA this summer, signing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan as free agents after finishing a surprising sixth in the Eastern Conference last season and losing a spirited five-game series to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Draymond Green had just told DeMarcus Cousins that he hadn't seen him look this fit and slim since his college days at Kentucky. He was ready to see the big man wreak havoc on the NBA this season.

That was just last week.

On Thursday, Green and the rest of the NBA learned that Cousins had suffered yet another crushing setback with a torn left ACL, leaving Green uncertain of what to say or text to his good friend and former Golden State Warriors teammate.

"One of my goals coming into this season was for DeMarcus to destroy everybody and come back and show how great of a player he is and get what I think he deserves," Green told The Undefeated's Marc Spears. "I'm really at a loss for words about it. It's one that really hurt me for sure."

Green stopped by USA Basketball's practice at the Los Angeles Lakers' facility on Thursday. News of Cousins' latest gut-wrenching setback spread quickly through the team practice.

"I'm devastated for DeMarcus," said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who is an assistant for Team USA and coached Cousins last season with Golden State. "It's been a couple of years of hell for DeMarcus. ... We are all crushed for him."

"Injuries are a part of the game," Kerr later added. "But when you are talking about a player who has now dealt with the two most feared injuries for NBA players -- the Achilles and the ACL -- each basically knocking you out for an entire season ... to deal with that over a two-and-a-half-, three-year span, it's unheard of. What a blow for him, for the Lakers. He is going to have to process it all, start all over again."

USA forward P.J. Tucker said the Cousins news was "heartbreaking."

Green says that if anyone can overcome this series of injuries, it's Cousins.

"He made it out of Mobile, Alabama," Green said. "The NBA is tough, very tough to get to, very tough to stay in.

"But he made it out of Mobile, Alabama. If he can do that, he can do anything."

MIAMI -- The rout-filled Dodgers-Marlins season series ended Thursday afternoon, and look who's laughing now.

Last-place Miami turned the tables on NL West leader Los Angeles, winning 13-7 despite giving up four home runs, including Cody Bellinger's 40th.

"It wasn't a good day of pitching for us," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Despite the drubbing, the Dodgers increased their homer total this week at pitcher-friendly Marlins Park to 14, a franchise record for a three-game series. Max Muncy hit his 29th, Corey Seager his 12th and Kyle Garlick his third.

Bellinger, who began the day tied with Christian Yelich and Mike Trout for the major league lead, reached the 40 mark for the first time with a three-run shot into the upper deck in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to 13-7.

Trout hit his 40th homer later Thursday against the Chicago White Sox to match Bellinger.

Los Angeles had won the previous five games against Miami this year by a combined score of 45-9, including a margin of 33-2 in the past three games.

But the Marlins averted a three-game sweep and won the season's final matchup between the teams with the best and worst records in the National League.

"It feels good, man," said center fielder Lewis Brinson, who contributed three RBIs and a pivotal defensive play. "That's a good team over there. Their record and all their numbers show it. We just said we've got to fight every at-bat against these guys, because they're a good squad. That's exactly what we did."

The Marlins won without hitting a home run while totaling 13 hits and six walks.

"Obviously it took a lot of hits to get those runs, but that's who we are right now," manager Don Mattingly said.

Brinson, Brian Anderson, Starlin Castro and Jorge Alfaro each had three RBIs, and Jon Berti scored three times as the game literally became the latest laugher in the series. Castro wore a grin crossing the plate in the fifth to make it 7-1.

The last time Marlins had four players with three or more RBIs was in 2006.

Caleb Smith (8-6) needed 106 pitches to get through five innings but gave up only one hit and one run -- on Garlick's homer in the fifth.

Walker Buehler (10-3) gave up five runs in four-plus innings. It was a rare lapse for a rotation that entered the game with a 1.69 ERA this month.

"A breakdown of everything I do well," Buehler said. "Not a good one. Never fun to put our team in a situation like that."

The longest nine-inning game in the eight-year history of Marlins Park took 4 hours, 7 minutes.

Anderson drove in the game's first run with an RBI bloop single in the first. His two-run double in the fifth made it 4-0 and knocked Buehler out of the game.

The Marlins' first seven batters reached in the fifth, and six scored. Brinson's two-run double made it 8-1.

Brinson also charged to making a diving, inning-ending catch in center field to rob Seager of an RBI single in the fourth.

"Any runs you can take away from that team definitely feels good," Brinson said. "I don't know how I caught that ball, but it stayed in the glove."

MILESTONE

Bellinger became the first player in the majors to reach 40 homers this season. He hit 39 as a rookie in 2017.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "There's still a lot of baseball left to be played, so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, and hopefully more to come."

PUZZLING SPLITS

Buehler is 5-0 with a 2.33 ERA at home. On the road he's 5-3 with a 4.37 ERA.

"I'm trying to figure out what the difference is," Buehler said. "I felt good today. I just didn't put the ball where I wanted it."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Dodgers RF Kristopher Negron (nose and forehead bruises and abrasions) left the game when he did a face plant in a failed attempt to catch Brinson's double. Concussion tests and X-rays were negative.

UP NEXT

Dodgers: RHP Kenta Maeda (8-8, 4.12) is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game series at Atlanta on Friday. Maeda last faced the Braves in 2017 but has won both of his starts against them.

Marlins: A six-game trip begins Friday with All-Star RHP Sandy Alcantara (4-10, 4.44) scheduled to start at Colorado. In his past eight starts, Alcantara is 0-4 with a 7.29 ERA.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ATLANTA -- Pete Alonso and Amed Rosario helped the New York Mets pile up huge totals of hits and runs Thursday.

The Mets needed almost all of them to hold off the homer-happy Atlanta Braves.

Alonso drove in six runs with five hits, including a three-run homer that helped lead to Julio Teheran's shortest career start, and the Mets held on in the ninth inning to beat the Braves 10-8.

"It's incredible. It's hard to put in words, five knocks as a rookie," Mets starter Marcus Stroman said of Alonso. "It seems like he's on everything, barreling everything."

Alonso's first-inning homer carried 451 feet before making a splash landing in the pool behind the center-field wall.

Alonso's 39th homer tied Cody Bellinger for the National League rookie record. Bellinger hit 39 homers for the Dodgers in 2017, the same year the Yankees' Aaron Judge set the major league rookie mark with 52.

"I don't stand alone," Alonso said. "I'm tied. Hopefully I keep on going and keep pushing forward. Hopefully I can stand alone in that category."

Alonso set career single-game highs for hits and RBIs.

The Mets had a season-best 23 hits. Rosario's career-high five hits included two doubles, two singles and a triple. It was the first time in franchise history the Mets had more than one player with five hits.

"That's nuts. That's crazy," Alonso said when told about the duo making history. "I think all of us kind of fed off Amed today."

Wilson Ramos added four hits.

New York won despite giving up six homers, including three in the ninth. Freddie Freeman and Josh Donaldson each hit his second homer of the game in the inning and Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a two-run shot -- all against Drew Gagnon.

Edwin Diaz walked Brian McCann before striking out Ender Inciarte for his 25th save.

Stroman (7-11) allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits in 5⅓ innings. The right-hander earned his first win in three starts since being traded to New York from Toronto on July 28.

Stroman gave up homers to Matt Joyce in the fourth and Donaldson in the sixth.

New York, trying to stay close in the NL wild-card race, snapped a three-game losing streak that included the first two games of the series.

Teheran (7-8) walked three consecutive batters to force in a run in the second. He left the game after giving up a run-scoring single to Ramos. Teheran recorded only four outs while giving up eight hits and six runs.

"My command wasn't there," Teheran said, adding he'll try to quickly move past the ugly outing. "I'm just going to put it in a bag and concentrate on the next one."

Todd Frazier's third-inning homer off Josh Tomlin increased New York's lead to 7-0.

Alonso drove in two runs with a fifth-inning single off Tomlin and added a run-scoring single off Anthony Swarzak in the seventh.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Mets: Only one day after he was placed on the 10-day injured list with a mild left hamstring strain, 2B Jeff McNeil jogged in the outfield before batting practice. McNeil said he hopes he won't miss more than 10 days with his second IL stint this season with the same injury.

Braves: SS Dansby Swanson (right foot contusion) hasn't been cleared to run but took fielding practice from his knees before the game. It's the same drill regularly used by third-base coach Ron Washington with infielders. Swanson, who also played catch in the outfield, has been out since July 24.

TEHERAN'S NEMESIS

Teheran fell to 1-2 in four starts against the Mets this season, including three straight in which he failed to last longer than four innings.

CATCH OF THE DAY

Acuna robbed J.D. Davis of a homer in the sixth by leaping and reaching above the yellow line atop the left-field wall for a catch. Acuna landed in a sitting position on the warning track before pausing and throwing the ball back to the infield as fans cheered.

"Kind of dramatic," Braves manager Brian Snitker said of the brief uncertainty about the catch. "Good for him. It's entertainment."

UP NEXT

Mets: RHP Noah Syndergaard (8-5, 3.89 ERA) will make his first start against the Royals since 2016 when the Mets open a three-game series at Kansas City on Friday night. Syndergaard gave up three runs in six innings in a 4-3 win in the 2016 start.

Braves: RHP Mike Soroka (10-2, 2.32) will make his first start against Los Angeles when Atlanta opens a three-game series against Kenta Maeda and the Dodgers on Friday night. The matchup of division leaders is a rematch of the 2018 NL Division Series won by the Dodgers.

PHILADELPHIA -- The Chicago Cubs wasted a near record-setting outing by right-hander Yu Darvish on Thursday as he became only the second pitcher to go four consecutive starts with eight-plus strikeouts and no walks.

"He's been doing that for a while," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said after a 7-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. "He's been one of the best pitchers in the National League and he showed it again tonight."

Darvish shut out the Phillies over seven innings, striking out 10, before a ninth-inning bullpen implosion led to a Bryce Harper walk-off grand slam. The Cubs led 5-1 entering the ninth before Harper's blast off lefty Derek Holland ended the night and series with a three-game Phillies sweep.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo was asked where the loss ranked among many bad ones on the road this season.

"It's No. 1, for sure," he said. "With the road struggles, being able to win a game here would have been nice. But we didn't. It's definitely tough at this part of the season, as opposed to April and May when this happens."

The loss dropped the Cubs to 23-38 on the road, while they are 41-19 at home. Darvish, though, has now gone 26 innings without issuing a walk, the longest active streak in the majors and sixth-longest this season. It comes after a horrendous opening stretch during which he walked 22 batters in his first six starts. He's walked one in his past six.

"I have more routine now, doing the same thing every day," Darvish said of his success. "That makes me feel better."

Could he have gone longer than seven innings Thursday? After 92 pitches, he and Maddon said he was done, despite an easy final inning.

"Pretty much," Darvish said. "After the fourth inning I started losing my mechanics. I think it was a good decision. ... The numbers show good, but I don't feel that good."

The decision led to a series of events which eventually led to Holland facing Harper with the game on the line. It didn't help that the Cubs have three top relievers on the injured list and shortstop Javier Baez was scratched due to an illness. His replacement, David Bote, made a key error in the ninth inning, opening the door for the Phillies.

"That one is going to leave a mark," Maddon said of the loss.

Holland weighed in on Twitter that the blame should be his and his alone.

Don't blame them. Blame me. And the pitch was not down the middle. It was inside off the plate. And we lost because of me not because of them. I gave up the homer. Not them. Hold me accountable for the actions that Happened.

— Derek Holland (@Dutch_Oven45) August 16, 2019

As for the fateful 2-2 pitch to Harper, Holland didn't think it was a bad one. It was on the inside corner of the plate, but Harper turned on it for a no-doubter.

"I looked at the pitch," Holland said. "It was a great pitch. You have to give credit to where it's due. Tip your hat to him."

Introductory news conferences to announce a free-agent signing can get crazy quickly, and -- given how unpredictable baseball performance is -- it often takes no more than a year before the most grandiose claims look desperate. But when the Philadelphia Phillies signed Bryce Harper -- the rare star to hit free agency while still in his mid-20s -- the news conference, on a spring training field in Clearwater, Florida, was relatively subdued.

Nobody promised a World Series this year, or even a division title. Nobody promised an MVP award. The theme of the event, from Harper especially, was, simply, that he was going to be a Phillie for a long time, and that the length of the contract was itself the message. We're family now. That was the theme.

In his final answers, though, Harper let loose a little bit. He was asked this: "You're a big student of baseball history. Wonder how important it is for you to make history?"

"You're always remembered for winning," he said. "For me, it's all about winning. That's what you're remembered for, that's what it's all about. Personal accolades, they're great. But for me if our team plays well and our team plays together -- I find joy in my teammates' success. It's about what we can do to get that extra run to win the game, and to win for a long period of time. I'm excited to try [to] make that run."

And then, in his final answer, he expanded:

"Being able to be part of an organization for 13 years, and to be able to put all my faith and trust into everybody in this organization, I'm very excited about it. I'm not going to tell you I'm going to win MVP every single year. Is that my goal? Absolutely, I want to do that every single year. But there's going to be down years, there's going to be big years, there's going to be years that are just OK. We're gonna go in, we're gonna try to do everything we can to win and play hard and play well -- that's what it's all about."

One year into "the longest contract possible" is, of course, too early to judge anything, and the standard Harper set for success in Philadelphia is far broader than a year of stats or one season's record. But in those two answers, Harper gave us a little bit of a road map -- a very nuanced one -- for what standards he set for on-field success.

"You're always remembered for winning." This is explicitly the philosophy of the mid-decade Astros and Cubs, who figured out that losing doesn't matter if it's followed by winning. Absurdly low spending and multiple years of artificial awfulness would be forgiven, that philosophy went, if the team was ultimately building to something big and successful. The Cubs and Astros were; each team won the World Series. That cycle looked so foolproof, many teams since have tried, with varying degrees of success, to repeat it. But to be forgiven for on-purpose losing seasons -- the Phillies cut their payroll in half and lost at least 90 games three seasons in a row -- requires the payoff. Last year's team went 80-82 in what was supposed to be a bridge year. But this year, the prospects had matriculated, trades had been made, money had been spent -- Harper had been signed. The Phillies are still hovering around .500, slipping slowly out of the wild-card race, trailing two teams (the Brewers in the wild-card race, the Braves in the NL East) who more successfully pulled off the teardown-and-rebuild cycle.

"I'm not going to tell you I'm going to win MVP every single year. ... There's going to be down years, there's going to be big years, there's going to be years that are just OK." Harper is incredible at baseball, so a big year for him is an MVP award and a historically significant batting line; a year that's just OK still gets some down-ballot MVP support; and his down year is usually still an All-Star appearance.

But this year was his first healthy season in which he didn't make the All-Star team, and he might not be named on an MVP ballot, either. He's 55th in the majors (among qualified hitters) in OPS+, and he's 104th (among all hitters) in WAR.

Originally, we wrote that last sentence with "just" before each ranking, but "just" stacks the deck against him. He undoubtedly makes the Phillies better by his presence. For that matter, most teams would probably happily pay him $25 million for exactly this performance. But it's also probably fair to say that, in the first of 13 years, the Phillies would have expected and hoped for more than this. His projections going forward will get worse because of this year. The 2015 MVP season is further in the distance; so, for that matter, is the 2017 season.

"If I'm 0-for-4 or 4-for-4, that doesn't really matter. It's about what we can do to get that extra run to win the game." But here's where things shift strongly to Harper's favor. Harper's overall numbers are down, near career lows in some categories (and career highs in strikeout rate). But Harper has been extraordinarily clutch this year -- literally the clutchest hitter in baseball, according to FanGraphs' measures.

Statistically, "clutch" means a player hits better in the highest-leverage moments than he does in lower-leverage ones. It means his impact on his team's win probability is greater than his overall numbers alone would suggest. So, for example, here's Harper by various game states:

• High leverage: .322/.385/.655

• Medium leverage: .261/.372/.444

• Low leverage: .208/.367/.411

Since "clutch" is basically a ratio of two splits, a player can measure out as clutch because he has been really incredible in one, or because he has been really terrible in another, or -- as in Harper's case -- a little bit of each. His low-leverage stats are dragging his overall performance down, making his WAR look mediocre and his career path look less encouraging. But his high-leverage stats are doing what he's trying really hard to do, which is help the Phillies win. By Win Probability Added, Harper ranks fifth in all of baseball, behind only Christian Yelich, Mike Trout, Cody Bellinger and Freddie Freeman (in case you're worried that WPA is a junk stat with a junk leaderboard). He has driven in a higher percentage of his baserunners than Trout, Bellinger or Yelich.

Consider the four-game series the Phillies just played against the Giants: Harper went 3-for-14. But the three were a three-run homer, while trailing by one run in the seventh; a two-out, bases-loaded single that turned a one-run deficit into a one-run lead; and a homer that turned a one-run lead into a two-run lead.

"To be able to put all my faith and trust into everybody in this organization, I'm very excited about it." The Phillies have about a 1-in-16 chance of making the playoffs at the moment. It's not Bryce Harper's fault. They're an average team with an average pitching staff and an average defense and (Harper and a couple of others aside) a below-average offense. Harper's Win Probability Added is more than double the second-best Phillies hitter, more than triple their third best. The organization, as a collection of hundreds of personnel on and off the field, hasn't been very successful this year. The Phillies might still rally and get there, but, at the moment, they're not. They've let Harper down.

Well, maybe. Earlier in that news conference, Harper said this, which seemed merely modest at the time but perhaps prescient now:

"The thing about the East is it's a juggernaut. I'm not going to tell you that we're going to come in this year and win the World Series or win the division this year. That's the goal. But good things take time, as well."

That's what makes all of this especially complicated: Harper emphasized time, over and over and over again. In a measured, almost wistful tone, he talked about the power of time to build relationships, among players and also between players and the city. He reframed the extraordinary length of his contract -- which is so often treated as a liability in a megadeal -- as the main benefit. Time would ease the pressure, remove uncertainty and free both sides up to build something patiently and permanent.

But time is also what causes degradation and demise. The actuarial tables would tell us Harper will never be as certain as he was supposed to be this year, and might soon start to get worse -- subtly at first, but then again maybe not.

And so, in this year, when there was tremendous hope that Harper would be a dominant offensive force -- he was. But he was dominant in a way that is usually fleeting -- clutchness -- and for a team that probably wasn't good enough to make it really count.

You could take, from all of this, that Harper's first year as a Phillie has been a bit disappointing. But he was pretty clear when he introduced himself: He's not working on our timetable. He's still got time.