Categories: 2024 Postgame Recaps

Harper’s dreadful slump continues as Phillies swept to end miserable July

Bryce Harper is in one of the worst slumps of his career. (Grace Del Pizzo/Phillies Nation)

Final score: Yankees 6, Phillies 5

To understand just how bad the Phillies have looked recently, you need look no further than who is typically their best player.

Bryce Harper went 0-for-5 in a sweep-finishing loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday. He struck out in the fourth after chasing a first-pitch sweeper feet off the plate, fouling off a fastball nearly down the middle and swinging through another. It was his second strikeout of the game. With a chance to pull himself out of his funk, the game on the line in the ninth, Harper rolled over on the first pitch for a tailor-made, game-ending double play.

He’s 1 for his last 30.

It helped the Phillies move to a dreadful 4-11 in their last 15 games. They did not go quietly, falling behind 4-0 early before cutting the lead to one, going down by three, then cutting it back to two and again to one, but the result was all the same: another loss, the fifth in six games of a dreadful homestead and the 14th in 24 games of an embarrassing month.

Highlights

In what had to be the most consequential replay-aided home run by a Yankee in Citizens Bank Park history, DJ LeMahieu hit what was initially ruled a bases-clearing triple, then changed to a grand slam in the second.

The Phillies came through with some — gasp — situational hitting in the fourth. Kyle Schwarber walked and Austin Hays doubled, before Alec Bohm drove in a run with a groundout and Nick Castellanos singled to make it 4-2.
They halved the lead again an inning later, when Weston Wilson swatted his second homer of the season.

But LeMahieu, who began the game at .173/.264/.216 this year, gave the Yankees insurance with a two-out, two-run double the next inning.
The deficit back to 6-4, Austin Hays flew out to deep left to end the seventh, a play that would’ve driven in two if Alex Verdugo didn’t snag it right at the wall in the left-field corner.
Another Castellanos RBI single made it 6-5, but Brandon Marsh struck out with the bases loaded — against former Phillie Mark Leiter Jr., no less — to end the eighth.
Schwarber singled to lead off the ninth, but the aforementioned Harper double play ended it.

Notes

The Phillies’ two newest bullpen acquisitions each threw on Wednesday. Tanner Banks went three-up, three-down in the eighth, and Carlos Estévez matched that in the ninth.

Bryce Harper went 0-for-5. He’s 1 for his last 30 with 11 strikeouts.
Cristopher Sánchez allowed six runs on eight hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings.
The Yankees were 14-23 in their last 37 games entering the week. Largely thanks to the Phillies, they’re back on track.

Ticket IQ Next Game