Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto power the Phillies to a 6-1 victory over Marlins as playoff march continues

MIAMI — As he circled the bases for the 100th time since signing the biggest free-agent contract in baseball history, Bryce Harper tapped his helmet with his right hand.

It was a fitting gesture. These are heady days for the Phillies.

The Phillies are closing in on their first playoff berth in a decade. Re-read that sentence. Digest it. Believe it. They downed the Miami Marlins again, 6-1, Wednesday night to pad their cushion to 4½ games over the Milwaukee Brewers for a playoff spot. They firmly hold the No. 5 seed, 2½ games ahead of the San Diego Padres. Twenty games remain.

“I know we’re all excited in here to keep this going,” Harper said. “We’ve got some really good teams to play ahead of us. We’ve got to not look ahead to any postseason and where we’re going to be or what’s going to happen. We’ve got stay right here, believe in each other, and we’ll be right where we need to be.”

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To get this far, the Phillies have used 55 players. To go deep into October, they will need to lean on their best players. And Harper and J.T. Realmuto slayed the Marlins with back-to-back solo home runs in the sixth inning. Realmuto tacked on a three-run shot in the seventh.

The Phillies are 58-33 since interim manager Rob Thomson took over for fired Joe Girardi. They’re 5-0 in Miami, a place where they notoriously struggled in recent years. For the first time ever, they have won five consecutive series against the Marlins.

See? Heady days.

“They’ve been our Kryptonite a few years in a row,” Realmuto said. “It’s nice to play better against them than we have in the past. It’s just a credit to the type of guys we have in here. There’s a lot of guys stepping up. Guys are jelling. I feel like we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Realmuto credited Harper for calming the dugout after five innings without much offense against Marlins starter Edward Cabrera. First, though, Harper said he had to calm himself at the plate.

Despite appearances during his smashing two-game assignment in triple A last month, Harper has said he’s still searching for his timing at the plate after missing two months with a broken left thumb. Specifically, he has struggled to handle offspeed pitches.

Cabrera’s fastball averages 96 mph and scrapes 97-98. But he threw only offspeed pitches to Harper in the sixth inning. Harper stayed back on a full-count changeup and powered it the opposite way over the left-field fence to forge a 1-1 tie.

“At this time right now, I’d probably throw me offspeed for the fact that I’m so out front of that and I’m behind the heater,” Harper said. “I just need to back everything up, and I thought I did in that third at-bat. Just need to keep progressing each day.”

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Harper became the 27th player to hit 100 homers with the Phillies, in his 436th game with the team. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he’s the fourth-fastest player to reach the mark, trailing Ryan Howard (325 games), Jim Thome (384), and Chuck Klein (390).

Despite his two-month absence, Harper has 17 homers. Realmuto has 18 after going deep on a Cabrera slider and his opposite-field shot against reliever Huascar Brazobán. All but four have come since late June.

Realmuto has been the Phillies’ best player over the last 70 games. Since June 25, he’s batting .320 (65-for-203) with 14 homers and a .616 slugging percentage.

“It was just working with [hitting coach Kevin Long] and finding a consistent approach that’s worked for me in the past,” Realmuto said. “We kind of just hammered down and got back to what I do well.”

Rhys Hoskins left the game after getting hit by a pitch on the right hand by a Cabrera changeup in the fourth inning. X-rays were negative. He was diagnosed with a bruise, and while it’s doubtful he will play Thursday, he isn’t expected to miss much time.

“It just got sore, so he went to try to swing and it just affected his swing,” Thomson said. “I don’t like guys [playing] with sore hands. I think it affects their swing, and then all of a sudden it’s a bad habit and [loss of] confidence and it just snowballs into a slump.”

Hoskins was receiving treatment after the game.

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The Phillies have had bad luck this season with hand injuries. Jean Segura missed 54 games after breaking his right index finger while trying to bunt. Harper was out for 52 games after getting hit by a pitch by San Diego’s Blake Snell.

Third baseman Alec Bohm replaced Hoskins at first base, while Edmundo Sosa entered the game at third.

Wearing a brace on his right knee — for “support,” according to Thomson — Zach Eflin pitched for the first time since June 25 and retired three batters on 11 pitches in the eighth inning.

Eflin missed 11 weeks with a bruise near his right kneecap and patellofemoral pain in his knee.

“It felt great,” Eflin said. “Not only did it feel great being out there, but it felt great physically. Feel like I’m in a really good spot.”

The Phillies are hopeful that Eflin, a starter throughout his career, can work his way back into a multi-inning relief role. The early returns were promising. His average fastball velocity was 93.7 mph, a bump from his season average of 92.6 mph.

After sidestepping a potentially damaging first inning, Kyle Gibson completed six innings for the first time since Aug. 27.

Gibson held the Marlins’ punchless offense to one run on six hits, four of which came in the first inning. But he picked off Miguel Rojas at first base and benefited from a strong throw by right fielder Nick Maton to cut down Nick Fortes at second base on a two-out RBI single by JJ Bleday.

Beyond that, Gibson retired 15 of 17 hitters, six by strikeout.