Bryce Harper wakes up Nationals' bats to even NLDS with Cubs

WASHINGTON -- Before Game 2, Bryce Harper said of his hitting: “I think it could get better.” Then it did.

With his Washington Nationals trailing 3-1 in the bottom of eighth inning and on the verge of falling into an abyss of a two-game series hole in the National League Division Series, Harper crushed a massive two-run bomb off Chicago Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr. that tied the game. Perhaps more importantly, the blast -- Harper’s first since returning on Sept. 25 from a knee injury that forced him to miss six weeks -- seemed to open the flood gates for a Nats' offense that was about to crumble under the pressure of the postseason.

In the fateful eighth, Washington tallied four hits, which…