PHILADELPHIA — There were two outs in the 10th inning Monday night when Bryce Harper entered the on-deck circle for a potential tying run. Backup catcher Garrett Stubbs was in the dugout and he found Whit Merrifield, one of the new guys on this Phillies team.
“Man,” Stubbs said, “you want to watch this.”
Usually, time stands still at Citizens Bank Park when Harper hits. It’s an unfair expectation in a sport when the greatest are successful 30 percent of the time. That’s what makes Harper special. He has repeatedly met the highest expectations.
He struck out five pitches to end Monday’s game.
“Obviously, it didn’t work,” Stubbs said. “It doesn’t always work. But it damn near feels like it always works out.”
That’s Harper. He started the season hitless in 11 at-bats, then cranked three homers against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday in a 9-4 win that will be remembered here for its ridiculousness. Harper, wearing a red ski mask, punctuated the bitterly cold night with a grand slam in the seventh inning. This is the first time all season that the Phillies (2-3) can rest.
HARPER HAT-TRICK CAMPING OFF A GRAND SLAM#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/jjUSIWvTEZ
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 3, 2024
They cruised because Ricardo Pinto, who last appeared in the majors five years ago and didn’t get to the ballpark until the third inning because his driver got caught in traffic on the 350-mile drive from Rochester, NY, the last four inning for a save.
“That’s cooler than three homers,” Bryson Stott said. “We didn’t know he was here.”
“That’s a baseball player,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “Like the American Legion.”
“The absolute grind left him,” Stubbs said.
But this was Harper’s night. His six RBIs are a new career-best. His homers traveled a total of 1,209 feet. He became just the fifth Phillies player to hit three homers in a game this century. (Brad Miller, Jayson Werth, Ryan Howard and Mike Lieberthal are the others.)
“That’s what great players do,” Thomson said. “They have big nights like that. And we need it. That grand slam, everyone can breathe a little. And it was huge.”
It’s been nine years since Harper’s last three-homer game. He was 22 years old at the time and just coming off an MVP season. Harper has a photographic memory when it comes to his at-bats. What does he remember about that game against the Marlins?
“Tom Koehler,” he said.
Yes. Koehler allowed all three homers.
“I think in June maybe,” Harper said. “No, May 7th.”
On May 6, 2015. Close.
“Left field,” Harper said. “Right field, right field? I think I went into the bullpen on Ichiro’s head.”
He had the order right. The first sailed 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, who was now his ally.
The Phillies were certain all day that they wouldn’t play Tuesday night, when the temperature will be in the mid-40s. Thomson managed his bullpen Monday night like he expected rain on Tuesday. The players made their rounds in the clubhouse in the afternoon. If the game had been postponed, Pinto might not have been added to the roster. It’s something the Phillies didn’t tell him. “My mind is ready to pitch now,” Pinto said. Meanwhile, batting practice is indoors. Stott hit Harper.
“I was watching him in the cage,” Stott said. “And I told him I’ll take the credit because I told him to stand a little longer. Then he hit three homers. He does something every day, it seems. It gets to the point where it’s like, ‘Meh, like, how am I surprised? It just happens.’”
This is why, two pitches into 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 a full count against veteran lefty Brent Suter, who was hitless in four career at-bats. “Even though I went 3-2 there,” Harper said, “I still felt like I was pretty good in that at-bat.” He hit a down-and-in sinker.
“I think everybody … you don’t want to say expect it, obviously, because that’s crazy,” Stott said. “But it’s not surprising when something crazy happens. So he’s pretty special.”
Bryce Harper was interviewed after his three-homer game. (Bill Streicher/USA Today)
The start to this season has been uneven because this is the Phillies and that’s what they do. Harper is the pacesetter; something is wrong whenever he is in a funk. He missed most of the final 10 days of spring training. He wasn’t happy with his swing when the team left Florida. He felt better about his at-bats to start the season despite the results.
A game — even a rare game — can’t solve it. But the Phillies can laugh. They won a game that Spencer Turnbull started and Pinto finished, replacing Connor Brogdon on the roster. They saved an overtaxed bullpen.
They witness another of Harper’s deeds.
After his second homer but before his third of the night, Harper scorched a ball to center field. It was a sinking liner into the gap that Reds center fielder Will Benson snared like a snow cone. Harper took off his helmet and muttered some angry words.
Stott saw it as quintessential Harper.
That’s the way he is,” Stott said. “Two home runs already. A ball is hit, the man catches Willie Mays there. And he was angrier about that than anything else. Kudos to him. He leaves everything behind him and moves on to the next at-bat.”
Harper laughed at this.
“You have two, you want three,” Harper said. “Take three, you want four. right? That’s the mindset. I’m not satisfied with one or two or three or whatever. I want to get out there and I look forward to doing that every night. This is all I expect from myself. And I know my friends are the same. I’m definitely happy with how the night went. I just want to go ahead and turn the page.”
He will use the same bat in Wednesday’s game. “Oh yeah,” Harper said. He will probably wear the red ski mask again.
“I think we all do, yes,” Harper said.
Poor thing outside. And it’s worth playing, after all. Harper added to his Philadelphia legend. He’ll remember that feeling — the rush of being so locked in with every pitch. What else does he expect to be remembered about a three-homer night in 20 years?
“Hopefully,” Harper said, “this is the start of us winning. You know? That’s cruel.”
(Top photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
