While the Phillies’ rally fell short last night in a 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians, the Bryce Harper experiment at first base certainly paid off, which was a victory in itself. 

Harper made his MLB debut at first base last night in Cleveland. It was his first defensive appearance since April 16, 2022 when he played his primary position in right field. Since then, Harper has been limited to DH duties after he tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. 

Needless to say, last night was a big moment not only for Harper, but for the Phillies organization who intend to be buyers at the MLB Trade Deadline on August 1st.

The first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning was a ground ball to first base and Harper managed to handle that with ease. In the bottom of the second inning, Harper made his first Web Gem of the night on a line drive to second, which he made a small dive to his left for the out. 

Bryce Harper Line Drive Catch at First Base 

In the very next inning, Harper jumped into the camera well to catch a ball in foul territory.

Bryce Harper is a showman.

You had to know he was going to go play first base and simply ball out in the most dramatic way possible. I’m actually shocked he didn’t pull a hidden ball trick or catch a pick-off throw from Ranger Suarez at some point.

Harper was out there to make a statement and delivered with flying colors.

• Was the jump necessary? Nope.
• Did Bryce Harper scare the shit out of Philadelphia? Yep.
• Do I absolutely love it? I sure do. 

The Phillies offense however, was everything but good as they loaded the bases THREE times and only managed to score a single run which stop me if you heard this one before, was ultimately the deciding factor in tonight’s 6-5 loss to the Guardians. 

Ranger Suarez was on the mound and allowed four runs over five innings before Yunior Marte coughed up two more while recording just one out.

The Phillies did rally to show some life in the bottom of the seventh inning with JT Realmuto and Bryson Stott hitting back-to-back home runs but in the end, it just wasn’t enough. 

JT Realmuto & Bryson Stott: Back-2-Back Home Runs

The Entire National League is Losing Baseball Games

Luckily, even with the Phillies losing their third straight game, everyone else in the National League continues to stink too. The three other teams in the NL Wild Card hunt were all handed losses today. 

• Arizona Diamondbacks: 6-9 Loss to Cincinnati Reds
• Miami Marlins: 6-1 Loss to Colorado Rockies
• San Francisco Giants: 5-3 Loss to Washington Nationals 

It’s always nice to win when everyone else is losing but unfortunately that just didn’t happen tonight for the Phillies. It’s a long season and teams will work themselves in and out of funks all summer long.

The Phillies do need to figure out the RISP issue because that has continued since Opening Day and if they don’t start putting runs across the plate then things could get ugly down the stretch.

Night game tomorrow. Zack Wheeler on the bump against Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee.

Have a good night everyone. Cheers.

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