Clutch Harper resurfaces with walk-off knock vs. Astros

PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper has high standards, so the way he described his walk-off 10th-inning single to right field in Monday night’s 3-2 victory over the Astros should not have surprised anybody.

“Just another roll over,” he said.

Just another roll over at 105 mph against Houston closer Josh Hader, who has been one of the best relievers in the game. It was the 15th walk-off plate appearance of Harper’s career, and his sixth with the Phillies.

But it was his first walk-off hit since 2020.

“Obviously, it got through,” Harper said. “I was happy about that. Happy to win the game, obviously.”

It was a nice win for a team that has not played consistently well for weeks, although there have been encouraging signs since the weekend series win in Kansas City. The same can be said for Harper, who entered the night batting .211 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and a .628 OPS in his previous 28 games. The stretch has included an 0-for-24 skid from July 27-Aug. 3, and an active 55 at-bat homerless streak.

“I’m sure it’s pretty hard when you’re that good and you expect that much out of yourself,” Zack Wheeler said. “Hopefully, that starts something for him.”

Harper has doubled in each of his past four games. On Monday, he not only picked up the walk-off single, but he doubled to left-center field before scoring the tying run on Nick Castellanos’ broken-bat single to center field in the sixth inning. Harper also walked twice.

Those were his first walks since Aug. 16.

“Yeah, I felt good,” Harper said. “Obviously, when you’re walking, you’re usually doing pretty well. I thought I had some good at-bats."

As for his walk-off hit, Harper added: “Obviously, I want to stay through the ball more than that. I just need to stay through the baseball. You guys know -- if I’m staying to left-center, staying through the ball, I’m swinging better. I’ve just got to do that.”

The Phillies had runners on first and second with no outs in the 10th when Harper stepped to the plate. Kyle Schwarber was on second base as Philadelphia's automatic runner. Manager Rob Thomson didn’t give much thought to pinch-running for Schwarber. He likes the way he has been running.

With Trea Turner at first base, Schwarber said he knew that he would not stop running until he reached home if a ball was hit to the outfield. If he was safe, great. If he was out, the Phillies would have runners on second and third with one out and Alec Bohm at the plate.

“I was pretty much thinking that any ball hit, we’re going to run,” Schwarber said. “Trea is going to follow me to third [and] there’s still going to be one out. Pretty much the biggest thing for me out there at second is just making sure there’s not going to be a double play on a line drive. As soon as you see the ball take off low, you just go.”

Schwarber scored easily. He ran from second to home in 7.1 seconds, according to Statcast. It was the fastest second-to-home time of his career, discounting a play from last season when he was running on the pitch.

“I felt like I wasn’t going to stop, I’ll tell you that,” Schwarber said. “I told somebody, 'Man, I haven’t scored a winning run in a while.' I didn’t even know what to do when I crossed home plate.”

So, what did he do?

He slid, got up and ran to Harper.

Harper enjoyed the celebration.

Any time a player is in a funk, everybody wonders if a big hit can get him rolling. But it might have been Harper’s at-bats before the walk-off hit that were the most encouraging.

Teammates have said in the past that they know Harper is going well by his takes. In other words, if he's taking really good pitches just out of the zone, it means he is seeing the ball well.

“That’s the game of baseball,” Schwarber said. “Sometimes you go through things. I think the way that he’s gone, he’s continuously working to figure out the best way to get the feel that he wants. It’s been great. And he got rewarded.”