Watch: Bryce Harper launches first Phillies postseason home run
Ah, yes. That’s the swing.
Bryce Harper hasn’t looked quite like himself in the month-plus since he returned from the injured list, but the swing Harper offered in the second inning off of Miles Mikolas on Saturday looked straight out of his MVP 2021 campaign.
Perhaps better.
Harper’s first postseason homer since 2017 (his sixth career overall) came with the Phillies leading the Wild Card Series 1-0, one more win giving Harper his first ever postseason series victory.
It also helped the Phillies add to the momentum that they’d built in the first, when Cardinals sluggers Albert Pujols, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado wasted a leadoff runner on second against Aaron Nola.
Harper’s Phillies tenure has been littered with accolades, but perhaps it’s lacked a real “signature moment” — largely because the Phillies never gave him an October stage on which to create one.
Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, if that second-inning swing winds up a pivotal blow in a Phillies clincher — that’s a pretty signature moment right there, and above all, quite the encouraging sign for the Phillies slugger.
