Categories: 2021 Postgame Recaps

Bryce Harper homers twice, but Phillies fall to Fish

Bryce Harper homered twice Wednesday, but the Phillies lost. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Marlins 11, Phillies 6

Bryce Harper hit 865 feet worth of home runs Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park, but it wasn’t enough for the Philadelphia Phillies to clinch a series victory against the Miami Marlins.

Coming off of one of his best starts of the 2021 season, Aaron Nola struggled against the Marlins, and a bullpen that’s increasingly looking like the worst unit in the sport again didn’t fare much better for Joe Girardi.

For the Phillies, this is the third straight time that they’ve lost a game that Harper has hit multiple home runs in, dating back to last season. Harper homered twice in Colorado on April 23, only for the Phillies to lose 12-2 at the hands of the Rockies. Harper also hit two home runs in a 10-6 loss to the New York Mets on Sept. 17 of the 2020 season.

With the loss Wednesday, the Phillies fall to 37-41 in 2021. Zach Eflin will get the ball for the Phillies Thursday evening, hoping to help clinch a series victory against a team that the Phillies haven’t managed to win too many series over in recent years.

Top Plays

The Marlins jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, with third baseman Joe Panik homering in his first at-bat with the Fish:

Miami’s lead didn’t last long, though, as Bryce Harper hit a ball 444 feet off of the batter’s eye in the home half of the second inning to pull the Phillies even:

Jordan Holloway, Miami’s starter, followed up the Harper home run by walking Andrew McCutchen and Alec Bohm in back-to-back outs. Though Holloway was able to strike out Brad Miller, Nick Maton tripled into the right field corner in the next at-bat, plating both McCutchen and Bohm:

Maton would eventually score on a sacrifice fly by Odúbel Herrera, all part of a four-run second inning for the Phillies.
In the top of the fourth inning, Adam Duvall hit a 458-foot home run to left field, cutting the Phillies lead to 4-2. For Duvall – who spent parts of the last three seasons with the Atlanta Braves – it was his 11th career home run against the Phillies:

With Maton on third base and Aaron Nola on second in the bottom of the fourth inning, Jean Segura singled back up the middle off of Marlins reliever Zach Pop. The singled scored Maton, but Nola was held at third base, well, because he’s the pitcher. J.T. Realmuto then grounded into a double play to end the inning, stranding a potential sixth run for the Phillies on third base.
Garrett Cooper drove in a run for the Marlins in the top of the fifth inning, scoring Magneuris Sierra from third base with two outs.
Later in the fifth, Miguel Rojas blooped a single into center field, scoring Cooper. Jesús Sánchez followed with a single of his own into, which scored Duvall to tie the game. It also knocked Nola out of the game:

For the second time in three days, Neftalí Féliz – who previously hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2017 – came into a high-leverage situation. Féliz inherited runners on first and third, and gave up an RBI single off the bat of Panik. The next batter, Sandy León, laced a double into the right field corner, bringing home the final two runs in a six-run inning for the Marlins:

The Phillies weren’t able to bring any runs home after a 38-minute rain delay forced a pause in the middle of the fifth inning, but the Marlins picked up where they left off in the top of the sixth inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. led off the inning with a double that nearly left the park. While Chisholm didn’t run really at all in getting to second base, the Phillies didn’t make him pay for it. Back-to-back infield singles from Starling Marte and Garrett Cooper allowed him to score, increasing the Marlins lead to 9-5.
On what should have been a fielder’s choice – and perhaps even an inning-ending double play – Bohm fielded a ground ball off the bat of Rojas to his left side. Instead of getting any outs, the ball went by Bohm and into left field, allowing Marte to score.

In the bottom of the seventh, Harper hit a second-deck home run off of Marlins reliever Anthony Bass. It was Harper’s second home run of the night, and 13th on the season. All 13 have been solo shots:

Sánchez added an insurance run for the Marlins in the top of the eighth inning, doubling off of Connor Brogdon to score Duvall and increase the lead to 11-6.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

Jordan Holloway struggled in his start for the Marlins Wednesday, walking five in three plus innings, while allowing four hits and five earned runs.
Aaron Nola followed up a 12-strikeout performance with 11 strikeouts Wednesday, but that didn’t translate to a successful performance for the former All-Star. Nola may have gotten nickle-and-dimed a bit in the fifth, but the reality is he gave up nine hits and seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. The Phillies need much better than what they’ve received from Nola this season, as the 28-year-old now has a 4.44 ERA.

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