Philly Leader

PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper has high standards, so the way he described his walk-off 10th-inning single to right field in Monday night’s 3-2 victory over the Astros should not have surprised anybody.

“Just another roll over,” he said.

Just another roll over at 105 mph against Houston closer Josh Hader, who has been one of the best relievers in the game. It was the 15th walk-off plate appearance of Harper’s career and his sixth with the Phillies. However, it was his first walk-off hit since 2020.

“Obviously, it got through,” Harper said. “I was happy about that. Happy to win the game, obviously.”

It was a positive outcome for a team that has struggled with consistency in recent weeks, although there have been encouraging signs since their weekend series win in Kansas City. The same can be said for Harper, who entered the night batting .211 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and a .628 OPS in his previous 28 games. This stretch included an 0-for-24 skid from July 27-August 3 and an active 55 at-bat homerless streak.

“I’m sure it’s pretty hard when you’re that good and you expect that much out of yourself,” Zack Wheeler said. “Hopefully, that starts something for him.”

Harper has doubled in each of his past four games. On Monday, he not only picked up the walk-off single but also doubled to left-center field before scoring the tying run on Nick Castellanos’ broken-bat single to center field in the sixth inning. Harper also walked twice.

Those were his first walks since August 16.

“Yeah, I felt good,” Harper said. “Obviously, when you’re walking, you’re usually doing pretty well. I thought I had some good at-bats."

As for his walk-off hit, Harper added: “Obviously, I want to stay through the ball more than that. I just need to stay through the baseball. You guys know -- if I’m staying to left-center, staying through the ball, I’m swinging better. I’ve just got to do that.”

The Phillies had runners on first and second with no outs in the 10th when Harper stepped to the plate. Kyle Schwarber was on second base as Philadelphia's automatic runner. Manager Rob Thomson didn’t give much thought to pinch-running for Schwarber as he likes how he has been running.

With Trea Turner at first base, Schwarber said he knew that he would not stop running until he reached home if a ball was hit to the outfield. If he was safe, great; if not, the Phillies would have runners on second and third with one out and Alec Bohm at bat.

“I was pretty much thinking that any ball hit we’re going to run,” Schwarber said. “Trea is going to follow me to third [and] there’s still going to be one out. Pretty much the biggest thing for me out there at second is just making sure there’s not going to be a double play on a line drive. As soon as you see the ball take off low, you just go.”

Schwarber scored easily from second base in 7.1 seconds according to Statcast—his fastest time from second-to-home excluding a play last season when he ran on a pitch.

“I felt like I wasn’t going to stop; I’ll tell you that,” Schwarber said. “I told somebody, 'Man, I haven’t scored a winning run in a while.' I didn’t even know what to do when I crossed home plate.”

So what did he do?

He slid, got up and ran toward Harper.

Harper enjoyed the celebration.

Any time a player is in a slump people wonder if one big hit can turn things around but it might have been Harper’s at-bats before his walk-off hit which were most encouraging.

Teammates have noted previously they can gauge how well Harper is playing by observing his takes; if he's taking good pitches just outside of strike zone it means he's seeing them well.

“That’s baseball,” Schwarber said.“Sometimes you go through things.I think way he's gone continuously working figure best way get feel wants.It’s great.And rewarded.”

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