Like Kobe Bryant, Bryce Harper feels it’s a superstar athlete’s duty to play through the pain

Most people did not know, Vanessa Bryant said last week, that Kobe Bryant’s intense desire to play through injuries was because he didn’t want to disappoint fans who came to see him play.

While giving her late husband’s induction speech into the Basketball Hall of Fame, she said Kobe Bryant remembered the thrill of sitting in the arena with his father to watch Michael Jordan play. He didn’t want to let his broken finger or a sore ankle rob a fan of experiencing that same feeling.

Bryce Harper, who grew up a Kobe Bryant fan and wore his Lakers jersey last summer under his Phillies uniform, can relate. He returned to the lineup this season four days after being hit in the face by a 97 mph fastball. He finished last season with a back injury so debilitating that he could not throw a baseball and has played this month through a sore wrist and sore shoulder.

He hasn’t been on the injured list since 2017 and has played 89% of the team’s games in three seasons with the Phillies. Kobe Bryant’s mentality is impossible to duplicate, but Harper can at least understand where he was coming from.

“I feel like all superstar players should,” Harper said. “Kobe was on a different level. Everyone wanted to see Kobe. Everyone wanted to watch Kobe. But when fans show up every single night, they want to see the superstar player in the lineup. They spent the money in the ballpark. They spent the money to get here. This might be the only game they get to see all year. They take their kids and this might be the only game they get to all year along. I try to be in the lineup every single day no matter what I’m feeling or anything like that.”

» READ MORE: Vanessa Bryant delivered a great and gracious Hall of Fame speech for the Kobe she knew | Mike Sielski

Harper said before Saturday night’s game against the Red Sox that his shoulder -- which he aggravated on May 15 -- feels better by the day. There’s some pitches where he feels it when he swings and others where he does not. Harper said he’s “getting to where I need to be, health wise.”

“I never want to make excuses for myself or how I’m feeling because it doesn’t matter,” Harper said. “I want to get out there every single day and play the game that I know how to play. If I’m feeling hurt or get hit in the face or get something in the ribs or my back is hurting a little bit, I need to get up and grind and play the game that I love. Do it for the Phillies, for the organization, for the fans, and for my teammates as well. That’s just how I’ve always felt.”

Harper entered Saturday with just two hits in his last 20 at-bats with 10 strikeouts and one walk. In the last two weeks, he has made contact on just 64.5% of pitches in the strike zone. Last season, his zone-contact rate was 84.8%. Harper’s body seems to be nagging him and he’s in a rut. He said it’s just a matter of finding his timing at the plate. And he’ll make sure he’s in the lineup to find it.

“I need to perform at my highest level every single night and I try to do that as much as possible,” Harper said. “But I need to be better right now and hopefully that happens.”

Alec Bohm was given a day off on Saturday after he made two errors in Friday’s 11-3 loss to Boston. Bohm’s seven errors are the most this season among major-league third basemen and he’s batting just .225 with a .591 OPS.

“The kid has always been a worker. The kid has always been a fighter. You’re going to go through this,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I think every player goes through this. If you’re not frustrated, then I’d probably worry more ... He’s going to come out of it.”

The Phillies placed Matt Moore on the injured list with back spasms to clear a spot for Spencer Howard. ... Roman Quinn started a rehab assignment Saturday night with triple-A Lehigh Valley. ... Zack Wheeler will start Sunday’s series finale against Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.