PHILADELPHIA – There were two outs in the 10th inning Monday night when Bryce Harper entered the on-deck circle as a potential tying run. Backup catcher Garrett Stubbs was in the dugout and found Whit Merrifield, one of the only new guys on this Phillies team.
“Man,” Stubbs said, “you’re going to want to see this.”
Time often stands still at Citizens Bank Park when Harper beats. It’s an unfair expectation in a sport when the greatest succeed 30 percent of the time. That’s what makes Harper special. She has met the highest expectations time and time again.
He struck out on five pitches to end Monday’s game.
“Obviously, it didn’t work,” Stubbs said. “It doesn’t always work. But it almost always seems to work.”
That’s Harper. He started the season hitless in 11 at-bats, then hit three home runs against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday in a 9-4 victory that will be remembered here for the ridiculousness of it. Harper, dressed in a red ski mask, marked the cold night with a grand slam in the seventh inning. It was the first time all season that the Phillies (2-3) were able to relax.
HARPER HAT-TRICK ENDED WITH A GRAND SLAM#Ring the bell pic.twitter.com/jjUSIWvTEZ
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 3, 2024
They had no problems because Ricardo Pinto, who last appeared in the majors five years ago and did not arrive at the ballpark until the third inning because his driver hit traffic on a 350-mile drive from Rochester, New York, pitched the final four tickets for a save.
“That was way cooler than the three home runs,” Bryson Stott said. “We didn’t even know he was here.”
“That’s a baseball player,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s like the American Legion.”
“An absolute move off him,” Stubbs said.
But this was Harper’s night. His six RBIs were the best of his career. His home runs traveled 1,209 feet in total. He was just the fifth Phillies player to hit three home runs in a game this century. (Brad Miller, Jayson Werth, Ryan Howard and Mike Lieberthal were the others).
“That’s what great players do,” Thomson said. “They have great nights like that. And we needed it. In that grand slam, everyone was able to exhale a little. And that was huge.”
It had been nine years since Harper’s last three-homer game. He was 22 years old then and had just embarked on an MVP season. Harper has a photographic memory when it comes to his at-bats. What did he remember from that game against the Marlins?
“Tom Koehler,” he said.
Yes. Koehler allowed all three home runs.
“I think maybe June,” Harper said. “No, May 7.”
It was May 6, 2015. Close.
“Left field,” Harper said. “Right field, right field? “I think I entered the bullpen over Ichiro’s head.”
I had the sequence right. The first went over Ichiro and into the visitors’ bullpen at Nationals Park.
Harper remembered one last detail.
“JT got caught that day,” Harper said.
“Don’t remind me,” said Realmuto, now his teammate.
The Phillies were sure all day that they wouldn’t play Tuesday night, when temperatures hovered around 40 degrees. Thomson managed his bullpen Monday night as if he expected a rainout on Tuesday. Players wandered around the clubhouse in the afternoon. If the game was postponed, Pinto may never have been added to the roster. This was something the Phillies didn’t tell him. “My mind was ready to pitch today,” Pinto said. Meanwhile, batting practice was being held indoors. Stott hit with Harper.
“I was watching him in the cage,” Stott said. “And I told him I’d take the credit because I told him to stand up a little bit straighter. Then he hit three home runs. He seems like he does something every day. There comes a point where you think, ‘Meh, how am I surprised? Just past.'”
So, two pitches after Harper’s final at-bat, Stott turned to Kevin Long. He told the hitting coach that Harper was going deep for the third time.
“It’s been done before,” Long said.
Harper worked the entire count against veteran left-hander Brent Suter, who had held him hitless in four career at-bats. “Even if I hit right there 3-2,” Harper said, “I still felt like I was pretty good in that at-bat.” He hit a sinker that was going down and in.
“I think everyone… you don’t want to say expect it, obviously, because that’s crazy,” Stott said. “But it’s not a surprise that something crazy happens. So he’s pretty special.”
Bryce Harper is interviewed after his three-home run game. (Bill Streicher/USA Today)
The start of this season is uneven because they are the Phillies and that is what they do. Harper is the one who sets the pace; something is friend when he is depressed. He missed most of the final 10 days of spring training. He was not happy with his swing when the team left Florida. He felt better about his at-bats to start the season despite the results.
One game, even an extraordinary one, won’t solve it. But the Phillies could laugh. They won a game started by Spencer Turnbull and finished by Pinto, who replaced Connor Brogdon in the squad. They saved an overloaded bullpen.
They witnessed another feat by Harper.
After his second home run before his third of the night, Harper launched a ball to center field. It was a sinking line drive that Reds center fielder Will Benson caught like a snow cone. Harper took off her helmet and muttered some angry words.
Stott saw this as quintessential Harper.
That’s who he is,” Stott said. “Two home runs already. He hits a ball, the guy makes a catch from Willie Mays. And he’s more angry about that than anything else. Congratulations to him. He leaves everything behind and moves on to the next at-bat.”
Harper laughed at that.
“You have two, you want three,” Harper said. “You get three, you want four. Good? That’s the mentality. I’m not satisfied with one, two, three or whatever. I want to go out and I hope to do it every night. It’s just what I expect from myself. And I know my teammates do too. I’m definitely happy with how the night went. “I just want to move on and turn the page.”
He will use the same bat in Wednesday’s game. “Oh, yeah,” Harper said. She will probably wear the red balaclava again.
“I think we all will, yeah,” Harper said.
It was miserable outside. And after all, it was worth playing. Harper added to his Philadelphia legend. He’ll remember that feeling: the thrill of being so focused on every pitch. What else do you hope to remember from the three-homer-in-20-years night?
“Hopefully,” Harper said, “it was the start for us to win one. Know? That would be great.”
(Top photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
