Bryce Harper homers again as Phillies sweep Rockies, 7-5

The bottom of the fourth inning ended with Bryce Harper simultaneously swearing and slamming his helmet into the dirt just beyond first base. He had just hit into a double play and even though he already had a hit and an RBI, he had not made hard contact in his first three plate appearances and it led to a rare display of public frustration by the Phillies’ $330 million man.

Harper had the perfect mood remedy a couple of innings later and it proved to be the difference in the Phillies’ 7-5 victory with which they completed a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies at Citizens Bank Park.

J.T. Realmuto had already evened the score earlier in the bottom of the sixth inning by sending a 2-2 changeup from Colorado reliever Bryan Shaw into the left-field seats for a two-run home run. It was the first pinch-hit homer of Realmuto’s career and it occurred only because the catcher could not talk his way out of a day off in the morning.

After Jean Segura singled with one out, Rockies manager Bud Black brought in veteran lefty Mike Dunn to face Harper. The two have an extensive and fascinating history. Harper had faced Dunn 22 times before Sunday and had just four hits. He had struck out seven times, but two of Harper’s four hits were home runs.

Make it three out of five.

After getting ahead in the count 3-0, Harper took a called strike before unleashing a two-run home run into the home bullpen in center field. It was Harper’s second home run in as many games and it helped the Phillies push their lead in the National League East to 2½ games over the second-place Atlanta Braves.

“It’s not a close thing, I think he’s there,” manager Gabe Kapler said when asked if he thought Harper was emerging from his early-season funk. “He might not get two hits and a home run tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean he’s not where he needs to be. I think the home run he hit to center field was the turning point and the moment he started to feel more like Bryce.”

Harper’s home run also gave him back-to-back two-hit games, marking the first time since early April that he had consecutive games with more than one hit.

“I got a pitch over the plate that I could handle a little bit and hit the homer,” Harper said.

After losing three of four games to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Phillies finished their seven-game homestand with a 4-3 record and improved to 18-10 overall at home. They begin a seven-game road trip Monday night against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field.

Harper’s long home runs on consecutive days drew the most attention and created ballpark energy, but the unsung heroes of the successful homestand were the Phillies’ relievers.

“The bullpen, you can’t say enough about them,” Harper said. “They came in and did their jobs all weekend.”

The Phillies’ starters averaged just five innings over the seven-game homestand and had a combined 6.17 ERA. Jerad Eickhoff went exactly five innings Sunday and surrendered four runs on four hits. Three of Colorado’s four hits were home runs, including a two-run shot by Trevor Story that gave the Rockies a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth inning. Eickhoff was most upset that he had walked pitcher Chad Bettis to start that inning.

“It just can’t happen,” he said after his second straight abbreviated outing.

Colorado pushed its lead to 5-3 in the sixth when Ryan McMahon hit his second solo home run of the game off reliever Jose Alvarez, but after that the Phillies’ bullpen went into lockdown mode, allowing just two hits the rest of the way.

With Hector Neris unavailable following a two-inning save Saturday, Juan Nicasio had to go through the heart of the Rockies’ order to get through the seventh inning. He did so with strikeouts of Charlie Blackmon and Story before inducing an inning-ending grounder from four-time All-Star Nolan Arenado with runners at first and second.

“Juan Nicasio has worked really hard to re-emerge as a really trusted option for us,” Kapler said. “Today, we all felt really comfortable and confident with him and he rewarded us with some real life on his fastball, some big swings and misses and a really clutch performance with Hector Neris down.”

Adam Morgan followed with a perfect eighth inning and Pat Neshek pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save in as many opportunities. The crowd of 38,603 might have talked about the sixth-inning home runs by Realmuto and Harper as they drove away, but the bullpen was getting the majority of the accolades in the home clubhouse.

The bullpen ERA on the homestand was 3.21 overall, but in the Phillies’ four victories it was 1.13. Relievers allowed just two earned runs and 11 hits in 16 innings in those games.

“We were leaned on a lot,” Neshek said. “I think Gabe did a great job with us last week in K.C. and St. Louis, so we were pretty rested for this. That was a big thing for me, Neris and Morgan. It’s just all kind of contagious. If one guy is doing good, you try to ride that wave and it all seems to flow together."

The Phillies rode a wave of relievers to a three-game sweep of the Rockies and allowed the team to rebound nicely from three straight losses to the Brewers.