Cards pitcher Génesis Cabrera apologizes for hitting Bryce Harper | Extra Innings

The Phillies won Wednesday night to move into a tie for first place, but they’re holding their breath in St. Louis as they wait to see how Bryce Harper reacts to being hit in the face by 97-mph fastball. Early indications are positive after Harper walked off the field under his own power and was evaluated at a nearby hospital. Harper said the tests were good. His teammates responded by rallying for a victory after Harper was injured, and they can win their first road series of the year with another on Thursday afternoon. First, they’re hoping for more good news about Harper.

“We just pray that everything is OK there,” manager Joe Girardi said. “There’s no fractures in his face. You say a prayer.”

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— Matt Breen (extrainnings@inquirer.com)

Génesis Cabrera said the plan Wednesday night was to pitch Bryce Harper inside, but the hard-throwing Cardinals reliever didn’t have control of his fastball in the sixth inning, and the pitch slipped away.

His 97-mph fastball hit Harper in the face, cut him near the eye, and sent him to a St. Louis hospital for further evaluations.

“I want to again apologize for all the actions that happened, especially to Harper,” Cabrera said. “I really wish him the best and hope he has a speedy recovery and will be able to come back to baseball activity. The game got away from me at that point, and I’m really sorry for everything that happened today. None of it was intentional.”

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said he would have removed Cabrera from the game, but Major League Baseball rules state that each pitcher must face at least three batters. Harper was Cabrera’s first batter. The next pitch the left-hander threw — a 94.5-mph fastball — cracked Didi Gregorius in the ribs.

Phillies manager Joe Girardi said Gregorius would undergo imaging to see if he’s OK. Harper said on Instagram that “everything feels good” and “everything came back good.”

“You’re talking about an aggressive young pitcher who’s throwing to one of the superstars of this game and wants to give him his best bolt,” Shildt said. “The ball got away from him, and unfortunately it got Bryce up top. Our dugout went out to check on him. We instinctively were like ‘Oh gosh.’ Clearly, he felt terrible.”

Shildt said he understood why the Phillies were upset when home-plate umpire Chris Segal issued warnings to both teams after Cabrera hit Gregorius. Phillies manager Joe Girardi was ejected by Segal after he complained that Cabrera was not tossed.

“We expect their dugout to be upset and bothered by it,” Shildt said. “We respect the way they go about their business. We understand and they’re pros. They had one of their better players be compromised, and I don’t blame anything that happened there. I think in everyone’s hearts, they know it was completely unintentional.”

Phillies reliever Sam Coonrod shouted at the Cardinals dugout as he walked off the field after he pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Catcher Andrew Knapp guided the pitcher to the Phillies’ dugout, but Coonrod had to be restrained by teammates as he tried running back onto the field toward the Cardinals.

“I know it wasn’t on purpose. He wasn’t throwing at him on purpose,” Coonrod said. “But whenever someone on your team gets hit and the next guy gets hit as well, it’s just aggravating. I was a little bit fired up. … Once you hit someone in the face, you have to make sure you don’t hit the next guy. … I wanted them to know that it’s really not OK.”

The Phillies did not retaliate Wednesday night by throwing at a Cardinals batter as they were warned by Segal immediately after Gregorius was hit. Thursday’s series finale is the final time the two teams play in the regular season.

Is everything settled? Coonrod said he didn’t know. So could Thursday be interesting?

“I have no idea,” he said. “We won the game, and that’s all that matters.”

The Phillies dropped Andrew McCutchen from the leadoff spot Wednesday. It was the first time the struggling McCutchen hit somewhere other than first since signing with the Phillies.

What happened to Héctor Neris’ slider? He said he knows when to use it, Scott Lauber writes.

José Alvarado is back with the Phillies thanks to a bike, a net, and his dad. He retired the lone batter he faced Wednesday night to finish the seventh inning and extinguish a Cardinals rally.

Today: Aaron Nola faces Cardinals left-hander Kwang Hyun Kim in the series finale, 1:15 p.m.

Tomorrow: Chase Anderson starts against Marcus Stroman as the Mets come to town, 7:05 p.m.

Saturday: Zack Wheeler faces Taijuan Walker, 6:05 p.m.

Sunday: Phillies and Mets end their series on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, 7:08 p.m.

Next Sunday: Phillies back on Sunday Night Baseball in Atlanta, 7:08 p.m.

Entering Wednesday, 17 major-league teams were hitting .230 or worse. Since 1980, just two teams — the 2014 Padres and the 1981 Blue Jays — finished a 162-game season with batting averages below .230 as both hit .226. Girardi was asked before Wednesday night’s game why averages are so down this season.

“Well, I am shocked when I look at numbers in the game today. I am really shocked,” Girardi said. “And I think it comes down to players have not adjusted to what pitchers are doing to them. Pitchers adjusted to hitters, now hitters have to adjust to pitchers. Pitchers are pitching up and down in the zone. And I don’t think hitters have done a good enough job of adjusting to it. I know April sometimes can be a slow start for some hitters. But you look in some lineups, there’s three or four guys hitting under .200. And I think the two-strike approach has to come back again. Because I think there’s too many strikeouts in our game. I think hitters have to make that adjustment now.”

Send questions by email or on Twitter @matt_breen.

Question: How long will it be before we see Spencer Howard? — Kevin M. via email.

Answer: Thanks, Kevin. Howard is expected to start either Friday or Saturday at the alternate site in Allentown. The Phillies want to build him up there so he can return to the majors as a starting pitcher who can give them four or five innings every fifth day. There’s no timetable on how long that will take, but I’m expecting to see him back in the majors in about a month. The Phillies are going to have to move quick to improve the back of their rotation.