Bryce Harper chased a slider well off the plate for strike one and quickly found himself in an 0-2 hole in the seventh inning Friday night. The Phillies trailed by two runs with two aboard, hadn’t been able to muster much offense, and it looked from Harper’s first swing like he might be in over-aggressive mode.
One of Harper’s best qualities, though, is his ability to slow the game down. He can do it in a way that many hitters cannot, that many pitchers cannot.
Pirates lefty reliever Ryan Borucki missed with ball one, a low-and-away sweeper. Then ball two, another low-and-away sweeper. Then balls three and four, two more low-and-away sliders. Harper appeared to learn his lesson from the first pitch and apply it to the rest of the plate appearance.
“That’s who he is,” manager Rob Thomson said. “When he’s going good, he’s gonna fight, he’s gonna be a tough out.”
It loaded the bases for Kyle Schwarber, who is every bit as selective as Harper, a primary reason why the Harper-Schwarber back-to-back is so troublesome for opposing arms. A visibly flustered Borucki missed with four non-competitive pitches to walk in a run, shaking his head receiving return throws from catcher Joey Hart. Even then, the Pirates still led.
Borucki worked ahead 0-2 on Nick Castellanos just as he did Harper before hitting him with the next pitch, tying the game and prolonging an inning in which the Phillies scored four times with just one hit. A two-run deficit turned into a two-run lead and the Phillies tacked on three more in the eighth to win, 8-4.
The seventh-inning rally was based almost entirely around patience with the Phillies working walks against three different Pirates relievers in the span of six hitters. This is a lineup that prides itself on making pitchers grind.
The first baserunner in both late rallies was Johan Rojas, who drew walks out of the nine-hole and scored both times.
“I thought Rojas had an incredible at-bat getting things going late in the game and scoring the runs that we needed to,” Harper said. “You never know what’s gonna happen in the ninth inning. We fought back, did a great job of having good at-bats all night.”
The Phils have a chance over their next two series to surge in the standings against two of baseball’s worst teams. Friday began a run of seven straight games against the Pirates and Rockies, the two weakest offenses in baseball at 3.1 and 3.2 runs per game. Those two teams are a combined 22-66. The Phillies are 26-18.
Ranger Suarez allowed a three-run homer in the top of the sixth inning but was otherwise efficient, as he has been through the majority of his first three starts. He went seven innings, just as he did last Saturday in Cleveland. Suarez has pitched 17⅔ innings this season and faced the minimum three batters in 10 of them. It’s just that the three innings he’s allowed a run, he’s allowed at least three.
It was a very productive game for Harper, who went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI, numbers 1,000 and 1,001 of his career. He received a nice standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 44,039 after reaching the four-digit milestone in the bottom of the sixth.
“You always want more,” Harper said. “There’s a lot of baseball ahead of me and this team as well. Having moments like that are really cool on a personal level and really cool to be a part of that company, that history.”
Zack Wheeler toes the rubber for the Phillies on Saturday, giving them a great chance to earn a series win after dropping two of three to the Cardinals earlier in the week.
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