Bryce Harper walks off Astros in 10th inning, Phillies take Game 1 of series
Philadelphia Phillies via X
Bryce Harper has been struggling — big time.
He had been hitting just .210 over his last 30 games heading into Monday night and only walked eight times since the All-Star break.
Different story at Citizens Bank Park on Monday.
Harper walked multiple times and walked off the Astros to take Game 1 of the three-game series.
Zack Wheeler started for the Phils and was solid again. His pitch count was pretty high to start the night, thanks to the Astros hitting a ton of foul balls, but he settled in as the night progressed. In six innings of work, Wheeler allowed six hits, two runs, both earned, two walks and struck out six on 97 pitches. His season ERA is now 2.74.
The Phillies were down initially, thanks to a two-run double from Shay Whitcomb in the fourth inning. But Brandon Marsh got the Phillies on the board with a solo home run to left field the next inning.
Marsh is starting to heat up, which is huge for him and the Phils. Hitting .278 over his last seven games, including a slugging percentage of .550.
Nick Castellanos tied it up an inning later, and the score remained the same until the tenth inning. But as usual, the Phillies had chances. They left 10 on base, five from Alec Bohm, and three from Marsh. While Marsh had a homer Monday night and is playing better, Bohm is a little concerning. His batting average in his past seven games is just .207, including a .233 on-base.
Orion Kerkering, Jeff Hoffman, and Carlos Estevez kept the Astros off the board from the seventh through the ninth, and Josh Hader struck out the Phillies in the ninth to force extras.
Matt Strahm entered the game in the tenth with Chas McCormick on second, and was dominant. His first out came on a strikeout on Alex Bregman. Yordan Alvarez then hit a 97.6 mph grounder to Harper, which he fielded behind the bag and won the race to first for the second out. For the third, Yainer Diaz smoked a 102.6 mph liner to center, which Johan Rojas dove out for to make an incredible grab.
Then came the bottom half of the frame, where Hader reentered the game to face the top of the Phillies’ order with Kyle Schwarber on second. Trea Turner worked a walk and then Harper won it.
Harper smacked a first-pitch sinker past the diving Jose Altuve at second, scoring Schwarber, to win the Phillies’ third straight ballgame, this one coming in front of Gold Medalist Joel Embiid.
The Phils go for the series win Tuesday night, and it will be a great pitching matchup. Justin Verlander goes for Houston, while Philadelphia will send out Aaron Nola.
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