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Bryce Harper, Rob Thomson don’t think Kyle Harrison’s near-bean was intentional

Bryce Harper got upset over two high-and-in Kyle Harrison pitches on Wednesday. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)

SAN FRANCISCO — It had already been an emotional first few innings for Bryce Harper.

The Phillies’ first baseman had slammed his bat in the dugout after a first-inning strikeout, which came three pitches after he fouled off what he seemed to think was a hittable 1-1 fastball, then looked disgruntled again in the bottom half when he couldn’t grab a Cristopher Sánchez throw wide of first base.

But Harper’s emotions reached a crescendo in the fourth. After Kyle Harrison threw him a 1-2 fastball at 94.1 mph high and in on his hands, Harper yelled something back at the Giants lefty, clearly frustrated — and when Harrison threw another fastball higher and more inside on the next pitch, requiring Harper to jump out of the way, things boiled over.

“He didn’t mean to,” Harper told reporters, including NBC Sports Philadelphia‘s Corey Seidman, after the game. “Just don’t want to get hit in the face.”

No punches were thrown, despite some slight shoving about midway through.

“It looked worse than it was,” manager Rob Thomson said postgame of the second pitch. “Because the helmet flipped off, and that’s when it broke. And it looked from our vantage point that he got hit there. So I think everybody kinda got bent out of shape a little bit, but then it calmed down.”

“It was bad,” Harper said. “It was still bad.”

Thomson also said he didn’t believe Harrison was throwing at Harper intentionally. Even if that’s the case, it’s hard to blame Harper for getting upset. He’s missed time with HBP-induced injuries before, including a 97-mph sinker from Génesis Cabrera in 2021 and a 97-mph fastball from Blake Snell that sidelined him for two months the next season with a fractured thumb.

“I mean, you get hit in the face, man, it just is not fun,” Harper said.

The relatively calm encounter was a stark contrast from a Harper incident in the same venue exactly seven years ago. May 29, 2017 is when Harper, then with the Nationals, charged at Hunter Strickland and chucked his helmet toward him after a hit by pitch around his waist at Oracle Park (then AT&T Park). Harper had taken Strickland deep twice in the 2014 postseason, a grudge Strickland evidently still held three years later.

Wednesday was nowhere near that level of fireworks.

“I wasn’t really that mad,” Harper said. “Just throw the ball over the plate.”