Bryce Harper homers as Phillies snap losing streak to Marlins with 13-6 win

MIAMI -- Bryce Harper arrived Sunday afternoon at the top step of the Phillies’ dugout, tapped his fist against manager Gabe Kapler’s, and felt a showering of sunflower seeds pour over him.

It took just one swing -- a booming homer in the eighth inning of a 13-6 win over the Marlins -- for Harper to provide the Phillies with a needed sense of relief. A day after blowing a five-run lead, they had seen Sunday’s nine-run advantage trim to just four. It felt all too familiar.

But then Harper jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Marlins reliever Jeff Brigham, sent it 385 feet to left field, and brought the lead back to six. The energy Harper felt when he returned to the dugout must have felt a bit different than how it felt when he left it to bat.

The Phillies entered Sunday with 13 losses in their last 19 games. They watched all June as a first-place lead become a first-place deficit. It was the last day of June, but time already seems to be growing short. The Phillies needed to win Sunday. Harper made sure of it.

“I think we’re all being positive. You can’t look at what happened the last two days,” Harper said. “Late in the game, we have to be positive and know that our bullpen is going to take care of business even if I don’t hit the two-run shot. We have to have faith in our guys.”

It was the type of swing the Phillies needed in order to leave Miami with the energy they arrived here with on Friday. They placed their lucky bamboo plant in the center of the clubhouse Friday afternoon and left Sunday evening with a disco ball splashing the room in color.

It was the win the Phillies hope can create a spark. June was miserable, but it ended with a win. The first week of July should help determine where the Phillies stand.

They open a three-game series on Tuesday in Atlanta and then head to New York for three games against the Mets before the All-Star break. The final stretch of the season’s first half will show if the Phillies have moved on from their June troubles.

“One of the things that I try to remember always, and we try to remind each other, is that when we play the brand of baseball that we’re capable of playing, it doesn’t matter who is on the other side of the field,” Kapler said, whose team averted its second three-game sweep by the last-place Marlins in a week.

“And when we don’t play the brand of baseball that we’re capable of playing, it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the field. We play well and we play to our potential and we can beat any team in baseball.”

Jake Arrieta struck out six batters, walked one, and allowed four runs in six innings. He kept the Phillies afloat long enough for them to score seven runs in the sixth inning. Jean Segura and Cesar Hernandez each had three hits, Brad Miller had a homer and two RBIs, Scott Kingery stole third and home in the same inning, and J.T. Realmuto had two hits.

Harper’s homer gave him four RBIs and he came a few feet from a grand slam in the sixth. His ball rocketed off the left-field wall, drove in Maikel Franco, and placed Harper on second base, but Arrieta and Segura both were standing on third base.

Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro threw to third, believing he had the second out of the inning. Arrieta instead sprinted home. He barged into Alfaro, who had not moved out of the basepath, and was awarded home. The Phillies saved an out, picked up a run, and a seven-run inning continued.

“I saw that Alfaro was in the baseline and any contact with a position without the ball in the baseline is interference,” Arrieta said. “A little heads-up play there and it helped out. It was nice. We poured it on them there and I was just trying to do anything I could to score that run. It worked out in our favor.”

The Phillies sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and the first five reached base. Miller, who homered in the fourth, singled in a run. Arrieta dropped a single into left to bring home two more. Harper’s double scored two, Segura dived to score on a wild pitch, and Rhys Hoskins added a sacrifice fly.

It was the type of inning that could make a win feel near. But then the Marlins, just like they did on Saturday, responded. They tagged Arrieta for three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but even then a win still felt safe. And then J.D. Hammer allowed two runs in the seventh to cut the lead to 10-6. Sunday was beginning to feel a lot like Saturday.

The Phillies had lost five straight games to the Marlins. Letting a nine-run lead get away would be a brutal way for loss No. 6 to come. They just needed one swing, the one Harper provided. They could fly to Atlanta with some confidence.

“The Braves aren’t slowing down and we have some good teams in our division,” Arrieta said. “It’s more short-term for us. I think we need to focus on winning the series and not looking too far in advance. If we win two of three, which we’re more than capable of, and running into a sweep here and there, then we’ll be able to narrow the margin between us and the Braves and keep the other guys behind us.

"The guys in here are more than capable of winning ballgames on a consistent basis.”