Phillies drop close one to Sox despite Harper milestone
PHILADELPHIA—Bryce Harper hit the 350th homer of his career and four Phillies teammates also went deep on Wednesday night, yet it wasn’t enough for Philadelphia to beat the Boston Red Sox.
Harper’s milestone home run came in the first inning off Boston starter Lucas Giloito. He hit a first pitch fastball into the second deck in right field at Citizens Bank Park. The 439-foot homer run was his longest since a 451-foot blast on Sept. 23, 2023, against the New York Mets.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Harper said after the Phillies’ 9-8, 11-inning loss to Boston. “On an individual note, I’m super happy about it. But I always want to win, obviously, and not getting the win was pretty tough.”
The homer was the hardest hit ball of the season for Harper, who has begun to look like his former MVP self in recent weeks. In his last 10 games, the 32-year-old slugger has 16 hits, 14 for extra bases, including five home runs.
He became the 105th player in MLB history to reach 350 homers in a career and is the eighth active player to accomplish the feat. He is also the youngest in that group of eight to reach that milestone.
Despite the loss, the Phillies can take some solace that the offense has been starting to drive the ball with more authority since the All-Star break.
“It’s disappointing (to lose)” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “But the offense was good tonight.”
Harper’s homer came right after a home run by Kyle Schwarber, who has gone deep four times in the last six games and ranks third in the NL with 34 homers.
“It was a big night for the offense,” Harper said. “I thought we’ve swung the bat well all series. I thought we had some great at-bats.”
In New York, slump-busting hits by Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso were just what the Mets needed to finish a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels.
Lindor snapped a career-worst 0-for-31 drought and Alonso ended a 2-for-34 slide as the Mets beat the Angels, 6-3. New York won its fourth straight after losing its first two games coming out of the All-Star break.
Lindor gave the Mets the lead for good with a 76.6 mph RBI single in the third inning. The shortstop had made three outs on balls hit harder than 97 mph since Sunday, including a 98.2 mph fly to center in his first at-bat on Wednesday.
“Funny how baseball works,” Lindor said. “When you’re good, you’re good. When you suck, you suck.”
Two batters after Lindor’s looper, Alonso, whose slump dated to July 10, hit a 439-foot three-run homer—his 22nd longball of the season—to left field that was clocked at 112 mph off the bat.
“Felt awesome,” Alonso said. “Those are kind of few and far between. Balls like that you kind of dream about—well, for me at least.”
