Bryce

Harper

Harper will have a chance to play in his home park with this year’s festivities taking place in Philadelphia. Kyle Schwarber also joins the team as a reserve, and Brandon Marsh was named a starter for the game. Harper and Schwarber will be joined by catchers William Contreras and Hunter Goodman; 1B Matt Olson; 2B Luis Arraez, 3B Sal Stewart, SS Otto Lopez; and outfielders Pete Crow-Armstrong, James Wood, Corbin Carroll and Jordan Walker.

Harper slashed an opposite-field burner past Bryan Reynolds in left field to get the Phillies on the board in the third inning -- it would be the only run they’d score today against the Jared Jones/Carmen Mlodzinski piggyback. Harper’s bounced back strong from his 2025 season with a .274 average, 20 homers, and five stolen bases in his first 88 games of the season.

Harper drove in the Phillies’ only two runs of the game with a two-run homer off Christian Scott in the third inning. He later singled to lead off the sixth but was picked off at second trying to stretch it into a double. It was Harper’s fourth homer in eight games and his 19th of the season while hitting .278/.379/.536 with 55 runs scored, 50 RBI, and five steals across 346 plate appearances.

Harper has been scalding hot lately. Three more hits here gave him his fifth multi-hit game in his last seven contests as he’s surged to a .275 batting average and .903 OPS to go along with 18 home runs and 48 RBI. For all the talk this offseason about him not being elite, he’s certainly playing like he still is.

The Phillies entered the ninth inning knotted up at five runs apiece. Kyle Schwarber got the rally started with a leadoff single off of Gus Varland, then Harper walloped a 1-0 changeup for a 390-foot (103.5-mph EV) that put the Phillies ahead to stay. Harper also singled in the sixth inning and rode home on Brandon Marsh’s two-run blast, then drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning. He finished the evening 2-for-3 plus two walks and is now hitting .269/.373/.523 with 18 homers and 47 RBI on the year.

Schwarber receives additional time off to rest after his back locked up on him just prior to first pitch on Tuesday at Nationals Park. It sounds like the Phillies are merely proceeding with an abundance of caution given the nature of most back issues since interim manager Don Mattingly downplayed concern after the contest. The 33-year-old slugger is day-to-day heading into Thursday’s series finale. It’ll be Bryce Harper getting a turn at DH in his absence.

Not quite a cycle, but still acceptable. Harper doubled in the second inning, and homered in the fifth before reaching on a single in the seventh. However, he wasn’t able to get another plate appearance to see if he could duplicate Saturday’s feat. Leading into Saturday, Harper was in a 1-for-22 funk at the plate, but it’s safe to say he’s locked in again.

Add it to the resume that may one day put Harper in Cooperstown. With the easy parts of the cycle out the way, Harper lined a Tobias Myers fastball into the gap in left-center. With the score 11-1, Harper didn’t stop running until he got to third. While there may have been a play on him, the throw from the outfield headed towards home plate. It was ruled a triple, giving Harper the 11th cycle in Phillies franchise history. He’s hitting .259 with an .873 OPS and 43 RBI.

Harper’s lone hit went down as a liner to Padres catcher Felix Fermin in the scorebook -- he hit it off Padres LHP Adrian Morejon. Harper came around to score on an Alex Bohm single, and was also robbed in the first inning by Bryce Johnston near the foul line. Hitting .259 with an .872 OPS, Harper has rebounded well from a bit of a production dip last year.

Harper put the Phillies on the board early, taking Randy Vásquez deep for a solo homer in the first inning. He’d reach two more times via walk, scoring on a base hit in the third. The 33-year-old first baseman is having an excellent season, hitting .272/.367/.533 with 13 homers, 33 runs scored, 33 RBI, and four steals across 229 plate appearances.