PHILADELPHIA — In the bottom of the first inning, en route to a 7-4 Phillies win on Friday, DH Bryce Harper stepped up to the plate and into a situation that seemed tailor-made for him. The bases were loaded, there were no outs, and the entire ballpark was on its feet. Harper got a standing ovation, but it didn’t end when the at-bat began. The fans stayed standing, living and dying with every pitch.
The ovation was warranted, of course. This was Harper’s first at-bat since June 25, when he was struck on the left hand with a Blake Snell fastball, fracturing his thumb. The Phillies went 32-20 in his absence, and now, two months and one day later, here he was, the reigning 2021 NL MVP, ready and willing to terrorize opposing pitchers all over the league.
Harper saw five pitches, including some that just barely nabbed the strike zone. He feasted on the fifth pitch, a change-up right down the middle of the plate, and ripped a single to right field, scoring Rhys Hoskins and Kyle Schwarber.
This is a team that was built around its offense, an offense, which, at times, hasn’t always lived up to the hype. But Harper’s presence in the lineup changes everything, and Friday night was just another a reminder of that. He went 1 for 4 from the cleanup spot in his return.
The Phillies were working their at-bats so deep that by the end of the inning, Pirates starter Bryse Wilson was at 43 pitches and Pirates manager Derek Shelton had a reliever warming in the bullpen. After Harper’s two-RBI single, J.T. Realmuto grounded into a force out to score another run. In the next at-bat, Nick Castellanos tacked on one more with an RBI single to score Realmuto.
It wasn’t an offensive shelling, but it didn’t need to be. The Phillies now have six players with at least 50 RBIs this season — including Harper, who now has 50. Only two other teams in the majors, the Blue Jays and the Dodgers, can say the same. Driving in runners is something this team has struggled with on occasion, and it’s something Harper should be able to help rectify. But beyond that, and perhaps more importantly, he’ll just give teams one more thing to worry about.
“They know where he’s at all the time,” interim manager Rob Thomson said of Harper. “Same thing with Schwarber. They know where that guy is at all of the time. So the guys in front of him tend to get some more strikes, tend to get better pitches. Not all of the time, but most of the time.”
Thomson’s words proved prescient. The Phillies got plenty of pitches to hit, and they went to town. After that four-run first, they scored three more runs, on an RBI single from Hoskins, a fielding error, and an RBI single by Bryson Stott. The Phillies are now 59-17 when they score four or more runs.
Falter’s solid outing
Falter was put in an impossible spot — filling in for Zack Wheeler, who was put on the 15-day injured list Thursday with right forearm tendinitis — and did a solid job. He allowed five hits, two home runs, and three earned runs, with six strikeouts and no walks through six innings.
Brogdon struggles again
Left-handed reliever Connor Brogdon has now struggled in his last three outings. He’s given up five earned runs over 2 1/3 innings of work and wasn’t able to get out of the seventh inning Friday. Brogdon allowed a home run, a single, and a walk. He exited the game after recording just one out.
