Bullpen, Harper’s titanic blast fuel Phillies past Rockies in Suárez’s return

Final Score: Phillies 7, Rockies 4

DENVER — Bryce Harper has hit a number of home runs in his career that simply make you shake your head, all but forget whatever happened in the innings preceding it and laugh.

Sometimes, it happens on the road, and the home crowd can’t help but take part.

The Phillies’ offense had been relatively quiet since the first inning. A four-run lead had shrunk down to one. A once seemingly comfortable victory was shaping up for an unnecessarily tense finish. 

Then Harper decided enough was enough and sent a baseball into orbit.

Harper’s two-run rocket off the facing of Coors Field’s second deck provided two huge insurance runs in the ninth inning on Saturday, leading the Phillies to a series-clinching 7-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies. 

Just leave this here pic.twitter.com/BcpLxyDLhG

— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) May 14, 2023

Harper knew it right off the bat. Everyone in the stadium — many of whom would shower Harper in “M-V-P” chants just seconds later — knew it. There was no ambiguity, only oohs and aahs.

Harper watched all 439 feet of it. And on a night when the Phillies got a much-needed reinforcement to their starting rotation, and on a night when a patchwork bullpen pieced together 15 crucial outs, the show was stolen once again by someone who steals it quite often.

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Ranger Suárez was still Ranger Suárez on Saturday, in that he pounded the zone (walking just one) and fielded his position exceptionally. But he also labored. Suárez, who typically has a knack for putting innings away, allowed a pair of two-out doubles in the third to turn a 4-1 lead into a 4-3 one. He allowed seven hits (five doubles) in four innings — the most doubles he’s allowed in a game in his career. 

Suárez wasn’t the only Phillies pitcher who returned from the injured list on Saturday. Andrew Bellatti, who had been sidelined since April 20 with right triceps tendinitis, fired a perfect seventh inning, striking out a pair. 

It came after Connor Brogdon turned in another stellar outing in what’s been a quietly solid season for the righty. He threw two scoreless frames, lowering his ERA to 2.61 — and 1.83 since a rough Opening Day. 

The Phillies needed every bit of that effort from the bullpen to give Harper a chance to put this one away.

Rockies starter Ryan Feltner had walked four batters en route to a four-run, 40-pitch opening frame before he was forced out of the game in the second, when a 92.7-mph line drive from Nick Castellanos hit him square in the head. (Feltner stayed on the ground for a couple minutes but eventually walked off — albeit gingerly, with his arm around a trainer.) But Peter Lambert and Brent Suter kept the Phillies off the board on just four more hits until the eighth, when Kody Clemens doubled and scored a key insurance run on a Garrett Stubbs RBI single.

Jeff Hoffman, pitching in a high-leverage situation in part due to José Alvarado’s absence, bent but didn’t completely break in the eighth. He allowed a run on an RBI double from Ryan McMahon, though the run was unearned due to a botched liner right at Trea Turner to begin the inning. 

With Alvarado sidelined and Seranthony Domínguez and Craig Kimbrel seemingly unavailable after pitching thrice in the past four days, Gregory Soto — backed by Harper’s insurance runs — closed out the win with an easy ninth.

The Phillies have won five straight games and are back over the .500 mark.

Shibe Vintage Sports Notes

• The Castellanos hit that caused Feltner’s departure was his second of three hits on the night: His first was an RBI single that got the scoring started; his third raised his average to .327. He ending the evening at .325 with an .891 OPS.
• Harper, who also stretched a single into a double on Saturday, is now batting .361 with a 1.050 OPS since his return — and that includes an 0-for-4 first game back.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Sunday, May 14 vs. Colorado Rockies at Coors Field
• 3:10 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
• Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680

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