Bryce Harper hits tying homer, scores winning run in Phillies’ 6-5 win over Gabe Kapler’s Giants

You could lead with Brandon Kintzler’s hanging two-strike sinker that San Francisco Giants pinch-hitter Darin Ruf (remember him?) launched into the Phillies’ bullpen Wednesday.

Or you could focus on the routine two-out fly ball that Phillies left fielder Andrew McCutchen dropped later in that rough seventh inning to put the go-ahead run into scoring position.

In a series that brought polarizing former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler back to town, you could certainly analyze his successor Joe Girardi’s in-game pitching moves.

But Bryce Harper rendered it all moot.

A few days after missing a game to rest his cranky back, Harper put the Phillies on it. He tied the game with a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh, then reached down and touched home plate with his hand to score the winning run on Andrew Knapp’s walk-off single in the ninth inning of a sweep-averting, rain-interrupted, had-to-have-it, 6-5 victory over Kapler’s Giants at Citizens Bank Park.

“The guy’s a game-changer,” Knapp said of Harper. “That was a big homer by him. It got us back in the game. We were kind of down and out there for a second. For him to come up and do what he did is why he is who he is.”

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Indeed, the Phillies were seven outs from getting swept at home -- and by their former manager, of all people -- after an ugly top of the seventh in which they allowed four runs on Ruf’s homer and a careless mistake by McCutchen.

But Harper has been almost impossible to get out over the last week. He went 11-for-17 with five walks in five games on the Phillies’ 3-3 homestand. Even his outs were scorched.

So when Giants reliever Camilo Doval fell behind 1-0 with two outs and the Phillies trailing by one run, it was easy to predict what would happen next. Harper unloaded on a slider at his shimmering gold belt and hit it into the bleachers in right-center field.

“To say he’s locked in is a pretty significant understatement,” Phillies starter Zach Eflin said. “It’s awesome watching him. Not only is he getting hits all over the field, but he’s grinding out at-bats, he’s spitting on [balls]. He’s really being a pitcher’s worst nightmare in the box. He’s going the other way, he’s going up the middle, and that’s really the most dangerous Bryce Harper you can find.”

It wasn’t the worst idea, then, for Giants reliever Wandy Peralta to walk Harper on five pitches to lead off the ninth. But unlike a few previous games on the homestand, Harper had help in the finale against the Giants.

Rookie shortstop Nick Maton picked up three hits, making him 5-for-12 in three games since making his major league debut Monday night. Mickey Moniak hit his first career home run, a three-run missile in the second inning. And Brad Miller recorded four hits, including a single that moved Harper to second base with one out in the ninth.

Knapp, starting behind the plate with Eflin on the mound, got a first-pitch slider from Peralta and stroked it into left field. Harper raced around third base and went in hand-first to touch off a celebration on the field and perhaps a sigh of relief in the clubhouse at not having to answer for being broomed by Kapler.

“You could say that,” Eflin said. “But at the end of the day, a walk-off is still a walk-off and we’re going to react the way we do regardless of who it’s against. The guys that were inside the clubhouse were ready to go ballistic. I don’t know if we matched the energy [celebrating] out on the field, but we were freaking out pretty good.”

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Imagine how much freaking out might have taken place among a restless fan base if the Phillies hadn’t pulled it out, especially considering they were leading 4-1 in the sixth inning.

Girardi tried to play for an insurance run, lifting Eflin for a pinch-hitter even though he had thrown only 86 pitches. Girardi explained that Eflin had to throw extra pitches during a 44-minute rain delay in the third inning to keep his arm loose and likely had gone as deep into the game as he could. Regardless, when Scott Kingery struck out to strand a runner on third base, the Phillies cracked open the bullpen door and left it ajar for the Giants to get back in the game.

But Harper took everyone off the hook, from Girardi to Kintzler to McCutchen.

“I’ll tell you what, he’s a different player, man,” Maton said. “You don’t really realize it until you’re around him. He’s intense. He never takes any pitches off. He’s a great player and he’s a good guy to be around.”

And he’s carrying the Phillies so much right now that they might as well have flown Air Harper to Colorado after the game to open a three-game series Friday night at Coors Field.

“We were able to salvage today,” Girardi said. “I think it was big of our guys to come back. You get a huge home run by Harper and then a big hit by Knapp. I think it was important for our team.”