Swing, stare, repeat: Bryce Harper launches Phillies to NLDS lead with epic response to Brave’s mocking

First went the swing.

Then came the stare.

No, not that stare. Oh, Bryce Harper did watch his three-run home run soar into the second deck in right field in the third inning Wednesday and bring the Phillies back from an early deficit in a six-homer, 10-2 thumping of the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.

» READ MORE: Murphy: The Braves mess around and find out the Phillies aren’t them

But it was after that, after he finally dropped the bat and started his lap around the bases, that Harper reached second and, without breaking stride, looked over his right shoulder at Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia. It was calculated and unmistakable. And amid the delirium at Citizens Bank Park, it left 45,798 paying customers thinking one thing.

Attaboy, Harper.

Arcia screamed those words late Monday night in Atlanta, as reporters crammed into the Braves’ clubhouse after series-tying Game 2, which ended with Michael Harris II’s leaping catch at the wall in center field and Harper getting doubled off first base.

And because nothing that happens in public gets missed in the social-media age, word of Arcia’s behavior got back to the Phillies — Harper, in particular, who said he heard about it from a few teammates.

“They looked at me,” Harper said, “and they were like, ‘What are you going to do?’”

How about going deep in back-to-back at-bats — part of a six-homer barrage that tied the Chicago Cubs’ postseason record in Game 3 of the 2015 NL Division Series — to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead in a best-of-five series that they can wrap up at home Thursday night?

Oh, and an Arctic blast of a glare at Arcia, for good measure.

“Yeah,” Harper admitted, “I mean, I stared right at him.”

Did he say anything as he passed Arcia?

“No,” Harper said. “I would never.”

Let it be a lesson to opponents everywhere. As Phillies reliever Matt Strahm put it, “There’s no need to throw fuel on that guy’s fire. He’ll happily take any that he gets. But, I mean, thanks.”

More importantly, let this stand as the next chapter in Harper’s ever-growing Philadelphia legend. Braves manager Brian Snitker called him “a Hall of Famer.” Harper’s teammates call him “The Showman.” Last year, he became the modern Mr. October, and he’s on his way to owning the month yet again.

There were hints of this before the game. Publicly, at least, Phillies players shrugged off Arcia’s antics and insisted they didn’t need extra motivation. But when manager Rob Thomson was asked about the mood in the clubhouse, he said, “There’s a lot of talk about the Arcia thing.”

And then, there was the look on Harper’s face while he played catch before infield practice. Icy cold. Assassin-like. All business.

Bryson Stott knows it well from growing up around Harper in Las Vegas.

“He just gets a certain look,” said the Phillies second baseman. “It kind of starts in the morning. It’s just one of those things. The locked-in look, I guess? I don’t know.”

» READ MORE: Attaboy, indeed! Bryce Harper redeems himself with two stare-down homers; Phillies take a 2-1 NLDS lead

Harper struck out in the first inning against Braves righty Bryce Elder, who wasn’t announced as the starter until six hours before the game. Nick Castellanos tied it, 1-1, with a leadoff homer in the third inning, and when Harper got to the plate, there were two runners on and two out.

Not only did Snitker stick with Elder, but he resisted the brief urge to walk Harper intentionally.

“I was just hoping maybe we’d make a pitch on him and he’d pop a ball up,” Snitker said.

Elder’s pitch was a hanging slider, and Harper launched it 408 feet.

A surprise? Only if you haven’t been paying attention.

“It’s Bryce Harper,” Stott said. “Any time he goes up there, it’s kind of must-watch TV.”

Left fielder Brandon Marsh added, “It’s hard to hit a home run, let alone two. I don’t know if he was planning on it, or not. That’s just [No.] 3 taking care of business.”

And from Strahm: “It was almost like we manifested that at-bat. It was like we knew what was going to happen when a big spot comes up and if Harper’s at the plate.”

» READ MORE: Orlando Arcia said Bryce Harper can stare ‘wherever he wants’ and didn’t intend for him to hear his mockery

When Harper batted again in the fifth inning, Elder was long gone. But Arcia was still playing shortstop when Harper crushed a sweeper from lefty Brad Hand into the shrubbery in straightaway center field for a 7-1 lead.

The rout was on. Trea Turner and Marsh homered, too. Castellanos and Harper became the fourth pair of teammates with multiple homers in a postseason game, joining AJ Pollock and Chris Taylor (2021 Dodgers), Fernando Tatis Jr. and Wil Myers (2020 Padres), and two guys named Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (1932 Yankees).

It was a full-blown South Philly party. Amid the typical earsplitting noise, the fans serenaded the Braves with a mock tomahawk chop and chanted, “We want Strider,” a nod to Game 4 starter Spencer Strider.

Lost in it all, another postseason gem from Aaron Nola, who struck out Marcell Ozuna on a 95 mph fastball to hold the Braves at one run in the third inning and pitched into the sixth. It marked the second year in a row that he beat the Braves at home in NLDS Game 3.

In another eerie 2022 parallel, Harper answered for a critical Game 2 mistake by homering to punctuate a six-run third inning, just as Rhys Hoskins did last year with his series-turning, bat-spike homer in a six-run third inning in Game 3.

Harper dominated last October, of course. He’s intent on making new memories now.

» READ MORE: Orlando Arcia said Bryce Harper can stare ‘wherever he wants’ and didn’t intend for him to hear his mockery

“I signed here for a reason, to do everything I could to bring back a trophy to this town, to [owner] Mr. [John] Middleton, to this organization,” Harper said. “There were so many good times in ‘07, ‘08, ‘09, 2010, ‘11, and I want to get back to that moment and playing in front of these fans and Red October. I could go on and on, man.

“I get chills thinking about it, because that’s what it’s all about. I absolutely love this place.”

Attaboy.