Harper extends hit streak to 10 games

At the start of his professional career, Bryce Harper had trouble stringing together hits in consecutive games. A few weeks in, however, multi-hit performances have become a regular occurrence.

Harper extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a pair of doubles on Friday night, leading the Class A Hagerstown Suns to a 5-2 triumph over the Lexington Legends.

MLB.com's preseason No. 3 prospect finished the evening 2-for-3 and is batting .486 (17-for-35) with seven doubles, four homers and nine RBIs during the streak.

Harper's hits came in his first two at-bats. He pulled a line drive to right field for a double in the opening inning, then hit an opposite-field double in the third. He grounded out and walked in his final two plate appearances.

The Las Vegas native has raised his average 80 points during the streak and ranks seventh in the South Atlantic League at .368. He leads the circuit with a .724 slugging percentage, is second with a .466 on-base percentage and is tied for second with 23 RBIs in 26 games.

Predominantly a catcher in high school and junior college, Harper also recorded his first two outfield assists Friday. The 18-year-old right-fielder doubled up fellow former first-round pick Delino DeShields Jr. to end the third after catching a liner off the bat of Jiovanni Mier. Two innings later, Harper nailed Tyler Burnett trying to stretch a double into a triple.

Matthew Grace (3-3) earned the win after allowing two runs -- one earned -- on six hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked three. Ben Graham worked around a pair of errors in the ninth to nail down his fourth save.