Bryce Harper shrugs off apparent stare from Braves’ Orlando Arcia after home run: ‘I already did it’

ATLANTA — Orlando Arcia stared.

Bryce Harper shrugged.

In an apparent — and long overdue — response to an incident in last year’s postseason between the Phillies and Braves, Arcia looked back in Harper’s direction as he rounded first base after homering to give Atlanta a two-run lead in the fourth inning Wednesday night.

Arcia didn’t acknowledge the stare (glance? peek?) when reporters asked him about it after the game. Harper said he didn’t see it, either, but was prepared for questions about it after the Phillies’ come-from-behind 3-2 victory.

Stare? No stare? Harper dismissed the whole thing as a nonissue.

“I don’t care,” he said. “I couldn’t care less.”

Harper paused.

“I already did it,” he said.

Twice, actually.

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To refresh: After Harper got doubled off first base to end Game 2 of the National League Division Series, Arcia hollered, “Atta boy, Harper!” and cackled while the media was in the Braves’ clubhouse after the game. Two days later, when the series continued in Philadelphia, Harper banged two homers and stared down the Braves shortstop as he rounded the bases.

The Harper-Arcia affair added more spice to an NL East rivalry that has escalated over the last two years with the teams meeting in back-to-back postseasons. But 10 months later, this particular subplot was over — until Arcia seemingly reignited it in a mid-August game at Truist Park.

“I was just enjoying my home run,” Arcia told reporters on two occasions through a team interpreter when asked if he was, in fact, looking at Harper.

When news of his “Atta boy” mockery leaked out, Arcia didn’t deny it but questioned why something he said in the clubhouse became public, even though it was said in view of reporters. Fueled by Harper, the Phillies won the next two games and knocked out the favored Braves, who won 104 regular-season games and set a major-league record with a .501 slugging percentage.

Arcia got three hits against the Phillies on opening day at Citizens Bank Park but had not yet homered against them this season. He’s batting .226 with 12 homers and a .630 OPS.

“I can say what I want in here, and everyone can say what they want out there,” Arcia said. “Last year was last year. I feel like we’ve already turned the page. We’re focused on this year.”

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Specifically, the Braves are trying to hold on to the final National League wild-card spot despite a spate of injuries to reigning MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., ace Spencer Strider, second baseman Ozzie Albies, reliever A.J. Minter, and third baseman Austin Riley.

Aaron Nola, who allowed the homer on a hanging sinker, said he didn’t see Arcia glancing back at Harper. But it had the Phillies’ dugout buzzing.

“I heard about that,” manager Rob Thomson said.

His thoughts?

“It’s gamesmanship,” he said. “We won.”

Indeed, the Phillies tied the game with two runs in the sixth inning, then scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on Weston Wilson’s leadoff double and a one-out sacrifice fly by Brandon Marsh.

And it was a sorely needed victory, not because the Phillies’ division lead is being threatened (they have a seven-game cushion over the six-time NL East champion Braves with 36 games to play) but rather because they lost 20 of the previous 32 games. In the series opener Tuesday night, they were held hitless in their last 17 at-bats of a 3-1 loss.

So, if a stare, or even a sideways glance, from Arcia served to wake them up, they’ll take it.

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“Every win is important right now,” Nola said. “I feel like no lead is a big enough lead right now, especially with those guys over there. I mean, they’re always good.”

As usual, Harper got the last word. With the tying run on third base and the winning run on second in the ninth inning, Whit Merrifield spun a hard grounder to first. Harper smothered it and tagged first base for the final out.

“I didn’t want to get Buckner’d for sure,” he said. “That was the big thing. ... Big win.”