For about 10 minutes, it looked like the 300th home run of Bryce Harper’s career would also be another dramatic, game-winning bomb for a Phillies team that hit a franchise-record 59 homers in August.
While Craig Kimbrel’s blown save in the top of the ninth inning prevented that, it was still another magical moment at Citizens Bank Park, a stadium that has housed many over the last calendar year.
Harper came up in the bottom of the eighth with the Phillies trailing by a run. Trea Turner, who hit a go-ahead three-run shot of his own two innings earlier, had just struck out. Harper cracked one to right-center for his 10th homer of the month.
Bryce Harper hit his 300th career home run in dramatic fashion on Wednesday afternoon.
He played like an MVP in August, hitting .361 with 10 homers, nine doubles, a triple, 24 RBI and 23 runs scored in 26 games.
“Hopefully 300 more,” he said after the game. “Growing up, you don’t really think about the one or the two or the three, you think about the bigger numbers. I like where I’m at on a personal level and where this team is as well. There’s bigger numbers in my head but 300 is pretty good.
“Being able to do it at home in front of these fans, there’s nothing like it,” he said. “I’m very fortunate and blessed to put this uniform on each day with Phillies across my chest. I’m so thankful that me and John (Middleton) were able to sit down after the 2018 season and get something done. Very fortunate to have a long-term deal and play this game for a long time.
“Hopefully I’m able to do it for even longer than my contract says now. I just love being a Phillie, plain and simple. It’s something I dreamed about, this fanbase, this city, I love them, plain and simple. I feel like I’m part of this family, there’s nothing like it. I could go on and on, everybody thinks I pander a lot, but it’s real. It’s so real. It’s from the bottom of my heart.”
