Bryce Harper was ‘just taking a chance,’ and it turned into a historic, series-tying double play

ATLANTA — Off the bat, it looked to J.T. Realmuto like a “for-sure double.” From the Phillies dugout on the third base side, Trea Turner figured it for a warning-track fly ball.

But the only read that mattered was Bryce Harper’s.

And if Harper didn’t get it wrong, he was at least reckless.

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Because the Phillies trailed by one run with one out in the ninth inning Monday night when Nick Castellanos hit a deep drive to center field. Harper saw Michael Harris II race to the wall and leap but was already around second base when the Braves center fielder came down with it.

Harper was in full retreat, then, when Harris’ throw skipped past the cutoff man at second base. Braves third baseman Austin Riley, doing his best impression of Derek Jeter’s famous flip, scooped up the ball, fired to first base, and doubled up Harper. Score it 8-5-3, the first-ever double play of its kind in postseason history.

Game over.

Braves 5, Phillies 4.

It’s a series, after all.

“Just taking a chance,” Harper said after the Braves evened the series and dealt the Phillies a gut-punch loss unlike any they experienced last year until Game 6 of the World Series. “Michael made a great play and doubled me up. Tough way to end it.”

Devastating, actually.

Consider this: The Phillies led, 4-0, behind Zack Wheeler, who didn’t allow a hit until two outs into the sixth inning. And even after manager Rob Thomson stuck with Wheeler too long and the Braves sliced the margin to 4-3, the Phillies were four outs from going home with a chance to vanquish the best regular-season team in baseball.

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Even after Riley banged reliever Jeff Hoffman’s signature slider for a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning, Harper worked a leadoff walk to set up the Phillies for a comeback against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias, a pitcher they’ve roughed up before.

And then Castellanos hit a 100.8 mph rocket to center field.

“I knew I took a good swing, and I knew that I hit it on a good part of the bat,” Castellanos said. “I was just saying, like in my head, ‘Go, go, go.’ And he made a hell of a catch.”

Harper couldn’t have anticipated that. The expected batting average, according to Statcast: .610. The drive would have been a home run in five ballparks. At the least, it appeared likely to be off the wall.

With one out, Thomson said runners are taught to not round second base until the ball hits the ground. If Harper follows that guideline and Harris doesn’t make the catch, the Phillies have second and third with one out and Bryson Stott at the plate.

But Harper is anything but risk-averse on the bases. It’s part of what makes him great. He routinely stretches cue shots down the first-base line into doubles and blows through stop signs at third base.

This, though, was a time for caution.

“I probably shouldn’t have gone over second base,” Harper conceded. “But I made a decision, and I’ll live with that.”

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Said Realmuto: “You can’t really blame Harp there because he’s trying to score from first. In his mind, he’s trying to score on a double. It was a heck of a play by Michael.”

Even then, Harper probably would’ve dived back into first base in time if not for Riley, who intercepted the ball on the grass in front of shortstop, not where a third baseman would typically play in that situation.

“The only reason I was in the position that I was is because I was screaming, ‘One,’ and just momentum just kept pulling me that way,” Riley said, indicating the play was at first base. “And it ended up just being in the right spot at the right time.”

It might have turned the series in the Braves’ favor, too.

The Phillies insisted they came to Atlanta with the goal of splitting the first two games. They achieved that, thanks to a six-reliever relay race in Game 1 to shut out the Braves’ record-setting offense.

As several players noted, the next two games will be at Citizens Bank Park, and there isn’t a louder, more raucous home-field advantage. The Phillies will start Aaron Nola in Game 3. Braves manager Brian Snitker hasn’t named a starter, though it will be Bryce Elder or 20-year-old rookie AJ Smith-Shawver.

Either way, advantage Phillies.

“You absolutely want to come in and go 2-0, right?” Harper said. “But we did our job. We went 1-1, and we’re going back home to play two in front of our home crowd. I think we’re all looking forward to that.”

The Phillies also take pride in their resilience. Lest anyone forget, they were 25-32 on June 2 and played at a 100-win pace thereafter to make the playoffs as the top wild card. It was a duplication of last season, when they started 22-29 and rallied to reach the postseason.

But they have been mostly frontrunners in October, winning the first game of each of their six series under Thomson. And while it’s true that they dropped Game 2 in Atlanta in last year’s divisional round, they didn’t lose it like this.

“We thrive after we get punched in the face, man,” Castellanos said. “That’s all it is. Good. It stings. We’ll take it and make it motivate us moving forward.”

Even as they flew home late Monday night wondering what might’ve been.