On Friday, Bryce Harper was in the starting lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies in their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was in the cleanup spot of the batting order and playing first base.
In the top of the first, it looked as though he may be on his way to exiting the game early because of injury. He stayed in the game, though. Two innings later, Harper did exit early, but not by choice. The two-time NL MVP was ejected by home plate umpire Alex Tosi for seemingly arguing balls and strikes.
In his first at-bat, Harper grounded a ball to Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn with a runner on first and one out. Winn flipped the ball to second for a force out. A throw to first wasn’t attempted because Harper, hustling down the line, would’ve beaten it out.
After reaching the bag, he looked to be wincing and experiencing some type of discomfort. He bent over a few times and eventually Philadelphia trainer Joe Rauch and manager Rob Thomson jogged out to check on Harper. It looked as though the 30-year-old insisted he was fine and was going to stay in the game, which he did.
Harper has been playing the field on a more regular basis of late after back spasms relegated him to splitting time between playing first and DHing for most of August. It’s possible his back stiffened up on him again.
Whatever the case, after his second at-bat, Harper was officially gone from the game. He struck out swinging on a breaking ball delivered by St. Louis starting pitcher Zack Thompson.
Upon doing so, the left-handed slugger flung his helmet and bat towards the Phillies dugout in frustration. After that, he had a few words for Tosi, who was having none of it. He ejected Harper.
Harper likely wasn’t upset at his swing and miss. Instead, it was the previous pitch, the fourth of the at-bat, that upset him. It was called a strike, but wasn’t. It was high and out of the zone.
Not happy with the ejection, Harper had more words for the home plate umpire. First base coach Paco Figueroa wasn’t enough to hold Harper back, so Thomson came out to defuse the situation.
While it seemed like a quick trigger by Tosi to ring Philadelphia’s first baseman, we don’t know what was said. It’s also possible Harper throwing his helmet and bat wasn’t appreciated and him adding on a few words at the end was the final straw.
Must-read (or watch) Phillies content
- Without Harper for most of it, the Phillies won last night’s game. It wasn’t easy, though. Our own Nathan Ackerman has the recap of the 5-4 win.
- From yesterday on Phillies Nation: Who wants the National League Wild Card spots?
- If you didn’t catch it on social media on Tuesday night, the Phillies dugout broke out in a chant after Trea Turner launched a game-tying home run in the ninth inning. Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer has the scoop on that chant, plus an update on Philadelphia’s rotation plans moving forward.
- Meanwhile, Matt Gelb of The Athletic wrote about Jeff Hoffman’s life-changing year.
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