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Phillies will be without Bryce Harper (back) Friday against the Twins

Bryce Harper is in his fifth season with the Phillies. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)

A night after exiting an eventual win over the Washington Nationals with back spasms, Bryce Harper is out of the lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies Friday as they welcome the Minnesota Twins to Citizens Bank Park for a three-game set.

But while Harper doesn’t expect to be available as a pinch-hitter Friday, the two-time NL MVP doesn’t believe he’s going to be out of commission for an extended period of time.

“No, I mean I feel better today. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow,” Harper said Friday afternoon.

Harper did say that he didn’t immediately come out of the game Thursday when he felt discomfort, which existed both when he was hitting and fielding.

“I felt it in like the first inning,” Harper admitted. “I just didn’t feel like it was fair for me to come out of the game in the first inning. I didn’t want [Rodolfo] Castro to have to get ready immediately. I thought I could loosen it up and I just wasn’t able to get it loose to where I wanted it to be. So, I just came out.”

As far as specifics, details were hard to come by Friday. The Phillies said Thursday night that it was mid-back spasms that caused Harper to leave the game. Thomson wasn’t entirely sure what part of Harper’s back had acted up when asked before Friday’s game, but said he believed it was his lower back. There wasn’t an MRI done for Harper. When asked if this was a different part of his back then what bothered him a couple years ago, Harper said “Yeah.”

For the time being, there’s no reason to think this will be anything more than a blip on the radar in a 162-game season. Certainly, though, it comes at an inopportune time, as Harper has rediscovered his power stroke and posted a .962 OPS across the first 10 games of August.

A resurgent Trea Turner is hitting third in the lineup tonight in place of Harper, with Alec Bohm shifting over the first base.