WASHINGTON -- After 20 games in 20 days, the last thing Bryce Harper wanted to do was work overtime.

“I definitely wanted to end the game,” said Harper, who led off the ninth inning of a 5-5 tie Friday night with a 400-foot fly ball that just barely stayed in the park and was caught by Cincinnati Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton. “Didn’t want to play extras.”

Harper might have failed to end the game in regulation, but he did the next best thing, lining a two-out single in the 10th inning to give the first-place Washington Nationals -- who enjoyed their first day off in three weeks Thursday -- a 6-5 victory over the visiting Reds. Sure, rookie Brian Goodwin, who clubbed two homers and reached base five times (including a 10th-inning single that brought Harper to the plate), played a key role. Ditto for Washington’s beleaguered bullpen, which came in with the worst ERA in the National League but worked five frames of scoreless relief following an underwhelming Stephen Strasburg start. But in the end, it was Harper’s heroics that made the difference.

After going hitless in his first five trips to the plate Friday, the Nats slugger stepped into the box in the 10th against Raisel Iglesias. Earlier in the inning, the Reds closer, who features a filthy slider to go along with a fastball that touches triple digits, made quick work of Ryan Raburn and Michael Taylor with back-to-back whiffs. But Trea Turner sparked a two-out rally with a line single to right, which was followed by Goodwin’s ground single to right, all of which set the stage for Harper. It’s a stage to which the former MVP has grown quite accustomed.

Friday’s walk-off, a laser over right fielder Scott Schebler's head that came on a 97 mph full-count heater, was Harper’s third this season, tied with Mark Trumbo for most in the majors, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Since the beginning of 2012, when Harper made his debut, he has walked his team off eight times, tied for second most in baseball behind Josh Donaldson.

“That's what you want,” Turner said of his teammate’s flare for the dramatic. “That's what they talk about in basketball is, can you hit the clutch shot? Same thing for baseball. I think that plays in the playoffs. It plays late in games when games are won and lost. It's nice to have him right in the middle of the lineup and producing for us.”

Truth is, Harper hasn’t been as productive lately as he was earlier in the season. Since April 26, when his average peaked at .432, the 24-year-old outfielder is hitting a pedestrian .256. On top of that, he came into his 10th-inning at-bat on an 0-for-10 skid. But if there has been one constant in Harper’s career (beside his Hall of Fame hair), it’s his ability to come through when it counts most. In fact, he has done it so frequently that he has figured out how to escape the walk-off euphoria without getting pummeled.

On Friday, sensing that his teammates -- led by burly, 235-pound pitcher Tanner Roark -- were chasing him down as he rounded first base, Harper veered into the outfield and did everything in his power to elude the onslaught. Maybe it was to avoid having his mop mussed. Maybe it was to prevent his pals from pounding on the sunburn he came back with from South Florida, where the Nationals played the Marlins earlier this week. Regardless of the reason, immediately following his walk-off, Harper and the Nats looked less like a big league ballclub and more like a bunch of elementary schoolers playing tag at recess. Although Harper didn’t seem to have any interest in being in the middle of a dogpile, he’s obviously right at home in the middle of a dogfight, particularly when the game’s on the line.

"They want to be in that situation,” Nationals skipper Dusty Baker said of Harper and prime-time players like him. “Your heart's pounding, but your mind has to be calm in order to control your beating heart. That's a situation where you've played that game in your mind a thousand times in the backyard. That's what you live for.”

“Trying to get a pitch over the plate and not miss it,” Harper said of his approach. “I thought I had some good at-bats earlier in the game, just missing pitches I could’ve drove. But just trying to grind it out in that at-bat. Got a pitch I could handle and that was the game.”

So what if it took an inning longer than he planned.