It was Austin Gomber’s game on Friday at Coors Field, until Bryce Harper stole the show.

Gomber blanked the Phillies for six innings, but Harper won it at the end. Harper’s two-out, two-run double off Justin Lawrence in the eighth inning was the difference. After the hit, he stole third and then scored on an error as “MVP” chants broke out among the Philly faithful in LoDo.

The end result: A 6-3 Phillies win, cooling off the Rockies (winners of eight of their last 10) on the opening night of a six-game homestand.

“Great players do great things — and they rise to the occasion,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “One of the best players in the game rose to the moment against a really tough pitcher.”

Gomber set down the first nine hitters he faced, mixing speed and location to have all the Phils off balance. His first-inning strikeouts of Trea Turner and Harper were an omen of the strong outing to come.

As Gomber settled in, so did Philadelphia right-hander Taijuan Walker, and the pitcher’s duel was on. The first six innings took about an hour to complete.

“Those first six were artful,” Black said. “Gomber was efficient, he was throwing first-pitch strikes, up-and-down, changing speeds. Tremendous pitching — he was outstanding and so was (Walker).”

Gomber was halfway to a perfecto when JT Realmuto dinged him for a double with two outs in the fifth. On Realmuto’s hit to deep left center, Randal Grichkuk missed his cut throwing back into the infield, but C.J. Cron scooped it up and fired it to Ryan McMahon to get Realmuto at third. Realmuto later left the game with a sprained right pinkie from his headfirst slide.

Colorado finally got on the board in the sixth. Charlie Blackmon started with a leadoff single, then Jurickson Profar doubled to send Blackmon to third. Blackmon scored on Cron’s sacrifice fly.

Then Gomber’s gem got shattered in the seventh.

First, Alec Bohn belted Gomber’s belt-high changeup 433 feet into the left-center bleachers to tie the game 1-1. Then, with two outs, Kyle Schwarber blasted a hanging curveball 430 feet to dead center. Gomber squatted in front of the mound and looked to the sky as he watched Schwarber’s homer sail over the fence, giving Philadelphia a 3-1 lead.

“I thought it was staying in the park at first,” Gomber said of Schwarber’s homer. “Maybe one too many curveballs there.”

The Rockies responded in the seventh with Ezequiel Tovar’s RBI single and then Blackmon’s sacrifice fly to even the game 3-3. But Harper would have the final say.

Lawrence, who got Colorado out of trouble in the seventh, was cruising until two outs in the eighth. Turner doubled, Bohm walked and then Harper sent his 300th career double on Lawrence’s sweeper pitch off the Bridich Barrier in right. Harper pantomimed a throat-slash in celebration after getting to second, then forced an errant throw by Elias Diaz on his steal of third to plate another run.

“Harper’s a really good hitter and Lawrence is one of the better relief pitchers in the National League this year, so it was a great matchup,” Black said. “But Bryce was on (the sweeper). And the hitter before Harper, walking Bohm, that’s one (Lawrence) will want back. That was critical.”

Lawrence fell behind to Harper 2-0 before Harper’s decisive swing.

“I’ve got to execute in that righty-on-righty matchup (against Bohm),” Lawrence said. “You definitely want that matchup over a right-on-left with a hitter like Bryce Harper coming up…  I was trying to get back in the count with a sweeper in the zone. It was a good pitch but he put a good swing on it.”

The Phillies blanked Colorado over the final two innings to secure the win.

Even with the unfurling in the seventh, Gomber’s outing continued the recent positive trajectory for the southpaw. After going 0-4 with a 12.12 ERA across his first four starts, Gomber’s turned it around, with a 2.19 ERA over his last four starts including Friday.

“A lot of stuff changed for me mentally and physically (since the first four starts),” Gomber said. “My curveball has been really good for me the last few times out, and I’m in a better mindset — more aggressive.”

The series opener was one of Gomber’s best starts in a Rockies uniform, although his eight shutout innings against the Padres in a 3-2 win at Coors Field on June 14, 2021, remains his bar.