Harper ends career-long HR drought as Phillies sweep doubleheader

Harper ends career-long HR drought as Phillies sweep doubleheader originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The long national nightmare is over. Bryce Harper is off the schneid.

Harper put the Phillies on the board with a no-doubt blast past center field in the fourth inning Saturday night, his first home run since May 25, ending a career-long drought of 166 plate appearances.

It began a hit parade for the Phillies, who scored nine runs on 11 hits from the fourth through seventh innings.

A simple flick of the wrist from Kyle Schwarber in the fifth inning resulted in a three-run homer, his second in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep. The Phillies beat the Padres in the nightcap, 9-4, and won both games for just the third time in their last 32 doubleheaders.

The Phils have done damage against every Padres pitcher they’ve faced in the series other than the top three, starters Yu Darvish and Blake Snell and closer Josh Hader.

Three key bats might finally be warming up. Harper had the pinch-hit, game-tying single in the eighth inning of Game 1, and Schwarber and Trea Turner reached base in five of 10 plate appearances.

Then Harper and Schwarber went deep in Game 2, while Turner missed a homer of his own by a few inches, doubling, singling and walking. Harper reached base four times with a homer, double, two walks and a steal of third.

Turner also made a great defensive play in the hole between short and third to rob Xander Bogaerts of a single.

Postgame, Harper downplayed the end of his nearly two-month stretch without a longball.

“Everybody keeps talking about it but it is what it is,” he said. “For me, personally, keep hitting the baseball hard. I don’t try to hit homers, when you try to hit homers, it’s no good. I put a really good swing on a ball tonight and was able to get it out of there. Keep swinging and keep doing my thing.”

The Phillies’ game-deciding fifth-inning rally started with a bunt single from catcher Garrett Stubbs, his sixth already this season. Johan Rojas followed with his first major-league hit, a broken-bat single to center. Schwarber homered a pitch later on an 86 mph changeup from Ryan Weathers that was up and over the plate.

The Phils added two more in the sixth on a Rojas bunt single and Turner single to right. Rojas blooped in another run in the eighth for a three-hit game. He made a sensational defensive play in his big-league debut in the afternoon.

“He had a great year this year in the minor leagues,” Harper said of the Phils’ new center fielder. “Excited to see him run, excited to see him play. I know they’re gonna love him. It’s gonna be a lot of fun to watch. We’ve had a peek at it in spring training so we know how dynamic of a player he can be.”

Taijuan Walker started and went five innings, allowing two runs. He threw 29 pitches in the first inning but minimized damage, allowing one run on a groundout. He suffered from a defensive miscue and questionable official scoring in the fifth when Rougned Odor hit a relatively routine ground ball to short that Edmundo Sosa had to run a few steps to his left to corral. Sosa gloved the ball but missed it, Odor hustled to second and was credited with a gift double. He scored on a Trent Grisham single.

Walker labored, throwing 96 pitches, but did enough to earn another win. He is 11-3 on the season with a 4.00 ERA. The Phillies have won each of his last seven starts and 14 of the 19 games he’s pitched.

Sosa was hit on the hand by a pitch in the seventh inning and remained on the ground for several minutes. He stayed in to run, then suffered a cramp running from second to third and was pulled. It was a rough 10 minutes for him, but manager Rob Thomson said after the game that Sosa’s hand checked out OK.

The doubleheader sweep put the Phillies at 50-42 heading into Sunday’s series finale, which may or may not be played as scheduled because of a high likelihood of rain all morning and early afternoon. Both the Phils and Padres are off Monday, providing a logical makeup date in case of a postponement.

Zack Wheeler starts for the Phils opposite right-hander Seth Lugo, a familiar foe from his seven seasons with the Mets.

“Really hot today, really tough for both sides to kind of stay on top or get going, but we were able to do that,” Harper said. “Fought ’til the end, got Game 1 and then jumped on them in Game 2.”

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