Day of dramatic rallies? Bryceless, until 9th

This was baseball at its insane, entertaining, thrilling best on Sunday. This was a day when leads slipped away, were grabbed back, then slipped away again. If you didn’t know this was April, you’d swear it was October with teams punching and counter-punching as if an entire season was riding on the outcome.

There were eight comeback wins. In six games, the deciding run was scored in the eighth inning or later. Three games went into extra innings. In short, this is just about as good as it gets. Seems like we’ve written that three or four times already this season.

This was a day for Bryce Harper to deliver another you-won’t-believe-what-he-did-this-time moment as the Nationals rallied to beat the Twins, 6-5, in 16 innings. Colby Rasmus did the same for the Astros, hitting a two-run, two-out, game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Heroes? How about Nats reliever Oliver Perez. He had a huge day, but not in the way you would expect. In his first plate appearance in six years, he laid down a bunt in the bottom of the 15th inning and and beat out a bad throw to bring home the tying run.

There was a long list of others on this day when benches were emptied and patience was tested. The D-backs ran out of position players and used pitcher Shelby Miller in left field. Not to be outdone in that same game, the Pirates got a run-scoring pinch-hit single from pitcher Jonathon Niese in the 13th inning.

Maybe insane is the new normal. Three weeks into a new season, that’s how it feels. Just when you …

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