Phillies rally around Bryce Harper, rout the Giants to snap a three-game losing streak

SAN FRANCISCO — It happened three years ago on a warm spring night in St. Louis, but Bryce Harper will never forget.

A fastball to the face leaves lasting trauma.

So, when Giants starter Kyle Harrison unleashed a heater in on Harper’s hands in the fourth inning Wednesday, the Phillies star shouted at him. And when Harrison’s next pitch came in even higher and tighter, nicking the knob of Harper’s bat, knocking him back, and causing his helmet to fall off and crack on the ground, well, take a guess what happens next.

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No, Harper didn’t charge the mound. He hardly moved, actually, as the benches and bullpens emptied and players milled around him. The umpires issued warnings, everyone went back to their corners, and play resumed.

And the Phillies woke up.

“He wasn’t meaning to … he didn’t mean to,” Harper said later amid the tranquillity of a 6-1 victory that busted a three-game skid and sent the Phillies home from a 2-4 western swing with majors’ best record (39-18) still in their possession. “I just don’t want to get hit in the face again. That’s about it. I just don’t want to get hit in the face.”

Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff homer (against another lefty) was a proverbial punch to the Giants’ face and set a tone for the Phillies, shut out 1-0 one night earlier. Nick Castellanos, among the lowest-producing everyday players in the majors through two months, came within a triple of hitting for the cycle, including a two-run homer to left field in the fifth inning.

Oh, and Cristopher Sánchez cranked up his sinker to 97.4 mph, scattered four hits, and struck out seven in six scoreless innings to cap a month in which he posted a 2.03 ERA in 31 innings over five starts.

But it was Harper’s bizarre day that had everyone talking among a feisty midweek crowd of 31,763 at Oracle Park.

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Harrison said he was surprised by Harper’s reaction, telling reporters that he was “trying to get him out, man. It’s a good player, so I’ve got to put it in spots where he might not be happy.”

Fair enough. The whole episode might’ve made more sense if Harrison knew Harper’s history.

In 2021, then-Cardinals reliever Génesis Cabrera bloodied Harper’s left cheek with a 97 mph fastball. Remarkably, Harper wasn’t seriously injured. He missed seven of the next eight games, but more because his wrist was sore from the ricochet of the pitch off his face.

The psychological toll still remains.

“You get hit in the face, man, it’s not fun,” Harper said. “That’s about it.”

Manager Rob Thomson said the situation with Harrison “looked worse than it was” because Harper’s helmet broke. From the vantage point of the dugout, Thomson said it was difficult to tell if Harper got hit.

The benches emptied, but on the seven-year anniversary of his infamous mound-charging brawl with then-Giants reliever Hunter Strickland, Harper never lost his cool. At one point, he appeared to chat calmly with Giants third base coach Matt Williams, one of his former managers with the Nationals.

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“I wasn’t really that mad,” Harper said. “Just throw the ball over the plate.”

Said Castellanos: “Emotions run high, man. Any time you get a fastball up by your head, it’s a scary thing. It’s not a logical time for thinking. [Stuff’s] coming fast. It’s up by your head. It’s scary.”

Harper was already in an ornery mood, too. He struck out in his first two at-bats and again later in the game. After his first-inning whiff, he took a two-handed swing at the bat rack. He also looked uncomfortable at first base on a low throw from Sánchez that he was unable to knock down in the first inning.

And after order was restored in the fourth inning, Harper didn’t run hard to first base on a ball up the middle that he might’ve otherwise beaten out because shortstop Brett Wisely’s throw was high.

“He’s an emotional guy because he wants to do well,” Thomson said. “He wants to perform for the fans and for his teammates. When he doesn’t, he gets emotional.”

By the time Harper singled home a run in the eighth inning, the outcome was well in hand thanks in large part to Castellanos, who has started every game. Thomson conceded that he has considered giving the right fielder a day off, but Castellanos wants to hit his way out of his early-season struggles.

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“If my body felt like I needed it, I’d be honest with him,” Castellanos said. “But I’ve felt fine. The more at-bats I get, the more swings I take, the more chances I’ve got to get something going.”

Castellanos’ homer staked Sánchez to a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning. And Sánchez continued his roll by dialing up his sinker to 97 mph and leaning on his changeup, which ranks among the best in the majors. His ERA stands at 2.83, eighth among National League starters.

“It’s hard, but it’s not an impossible thing to do,” Sánchez said of hiking his velocity while also maintaining his command. “We always try to get more [velocity] and to work harder and get better.”

Said Thomson: “This kid just keeps getting better.”

And with that, the Phillies packed up and headed home after a road trip that represented their first speed bump after the best 51-game start in franchise history.

“I know we’re all excited to get home and play in front of our fans,” Harper said. “It should be a good one.”