PHILADELPHIA — Six weeks into the season, ESPN brought its national baseball showcase to Philadelphia, and well, what did you expect?

Sunday Night Bryceball, naturally.

Bryce Harper is off to an uneven start, by his standards. But teammates don’t call him “The Showman” for no reason. On cue, he smashed a three-run homer against Giants ace Logan Webb to propel the Phillies to a 5-4 victory before 41,058 paying customers at Citizens Bank Park — and a national television audience.

Make it five consecutive victories — and 16 in 19 games. At 24-11, the Phillies are off to their best 35-game start since 1995, one game better than the 102-win 2011 club. They have the best record in baseball, 2½ games ahead of the Braves in the National League East, and are playing at a 111-win pace.

Oh, and Harper hasn’t even gotten rolling yet.

More on him momentarily.

For a second start in a row, manager Rob Thomson stuck with Taijuan Walker after six mostly solid innings. And for a second start in a row, Walker stubbed his toe in the seventh, giving up a two-run homer to Thairo Estrada that cut a four-run lead in half.

Then, in the ninth inning, the Giants pushed to within one run on Jakson Reetz’s first major league homer, a solo shot against José Alvarado. But Alvarado retired the next two batters to seal it for Walker, who was largely solid through six innings.

Harper came into the game with six homers, three of which came in the rain on April 2 against the Reds. He was batting .234 with an .820 OPS and was still searching for his optimal timing after missing a week late in spring training when his back flared up.

But Harper left little doubt when he teed off on a changeup from Webb in the third inning. He watched as the ball flew to deep right-center field. It landed in the edge of the bleachers before falling into the Phillies’ bullpen.

After Harper’s homer opened a 4-1 lead, Nick Castellanos lined a two-out single and scored on Bryson Stott’s double.

Making his second start of the season and first at home, Walker gave up two barreled balls in the first inning: a one-out single to LaMonte Wade and an RBI double to Michael Conforto, both of which registered 105 mph exit velocities.

By contrast, the Phillies tied it in the second inning on Edmundo Sosa’s infield single that traveled almost as far as the broken barrel of his bat.

But Walker yielded one hit — and three baserunners — in the next five innings. And as he toughened, the offense clicked into gear. The Phillies, with the help of two Giants errors, forced Webb to throw 28 pitches in the second inning, 31 in the third, and 24 in the fourth.

For the second time in four games, the Phillies struck out 17 times and won. Everyone in the lineup struck out at least once except J.T. Realmuto, who finished with three hits.

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