Philadelphia Phillies hitter Bryce Harper avoids getting hit as the ball hits the knob of his bat in the top of the fourth inning from a pitch thrown by San Francisco Giants starter Kyle Harrison at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Thu May 29, 2024 (AP News photo)
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Oracle Park
San Francisco, California
Philadelphia Phillies 6 (39-18)
San Francisco Giants 1 (29-28)
Win: Christopher Sanchez (3-3)
Loss: Kyle Harrison (4-2)
Time: 2:38
Attendance: 31,763
By Stephen Ruderman
SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants were unable to get the sweep, as Kyle Harrison gave up 12 hits over five innings of work, and the Phillies were able to salvage a game in this series with a 6-1 win.
Following Tuesday night’s 10-inning 1-0 win to take the series against the Phillies, the Giants had a chance to sweep the best team in baseball with a win Wednesday. The Giants had their young left-hander, Kyle Harrison, on the mound today for this sunny, cloudless but hazy Wednesday afternoon affair in San Francisco, and they had every reason to feel good about their chances today, as they came into today 9-2 in Harrison’s starts.
Kyle Schwarber greeted Harrison with a rude welcome, as he hit a home run to left-center field to start the game. Harrison then proceeded to retire the side in order.
It would be a matchup of left-handers, as the Phillies sent Christopher Sanchez to the hill. Marco Luciano reached base when he hit a weak ground ball between the mound and the third base line, and Sanchez threw the ball past first-baseman Bryce Harper down the right field line. Luciano advanced to second on a ground out by Thairo Estrada, but Matt Chapman flew out to center to end the inning.
Harrison ran into trouble in the top of the second, as Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott started the inning with singles. Whit Merrifield flew out to right, and Garrett Stubbs hit a bullet to Thairo Estrada at second for the second out.
That brought up the ninth-place hitter, Cristian Pache, who was hitting .196 coming into Wednesday’s game. It appeared that Harrison was going to get out of the inning, but Pache hit a ground ball that found its way into left field for a base-hit. Castellanos was waived in, and the throw from Heliot Ramos in left was not his strongest, as Castellanos scored to make it a 2-0 game.
The Giants were unable to do anything with a leadoff base-hit by Wilmer Flores in the bottom of the second, and Harrison found himself back in trouble with two outs in the top of the third. Castellanos doubled, and then Stott reached on an infield hit to short on what seemed to be a lack of effort by shortstop Marco Luciano.
Harrison got Merrifield to line out to right to escape the inning without any damage. As for Luciano, Manager Bob Melvin had Brett Wisely pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the third, as Luciano’s lackadaisical effort on Stott’s ground ball stemmed from a strained right hamstring that sustained while running to first base back in the first inning.
Wisely and Estrada both singled with two outs, and Chapman walked to load the bases, but the Giants wasted the opportunity, as Flores struck out swinging to end the inning.
The fourth inning would be interesting to say the least. Harrison was once again in trouble, as Bryce Harper came up with two outs and two runners on base. With the count at 1-2, Harrison threw a fastball up and in to Harper that Harper took umbrage to, as he had some words for Harrison.
The next pitch was also up and in and clipped Harper’s bat. Harper did not have much of a reaction, but the fact that he had another pitch up and in following the previous one caused the benches to empty. The Phillies basically had to exit their dugout to show that they had Harper’s bat, and same with the Giants and Harrison. Other than a bit of pushing and shoving, nothing too severe happened, and nobody was ejected.
“At that point, we’re still in the game and not trying to escalate anything,” said Manager Curt Casali. “There [was] no intent. Bryce has a history of being hit in the face, and I get the frustration, but I think we de-escalated it very very quickly. I went right over to him, and [I asked, ‘are you okay?’ He said ‘yes, I know you weren’t trying to go in there.’”
Harper acknowledged that neither pitch was intentional and that he had an emotional reaction.
“[Harrison] didn’t mean to [do it],” said Harper. “I wasn’t really that mad.”
“I’ll give Bryce some credit,” continued Casali. “He got upset, but he immediately calmed down. He wasn’t looking for a fight; he just reacted…..It’s scary when you get a ball in your face. I understand where he’s coming from. To his credit, I think after [his] reaction, I think he handled it really really well. I think he handled it like a pro. I gotta give some respect to him on that one.”
It was a coincidence that this happened on the seventh anniversary of Harper’s brawl with Hunter Strickland. Thankfully, today’s situation was nowhere near as severe as what happened in 2017, Harper ended up grounding out to short to end the inning.
The Giants went down scoreless in the bottom of the fourth, as Sanchez took comment. Harrison escaped trouble in the second, third and fourth unscathed, but he would not be so lucky in the top of the fifth. Bohm led off the inning with a double, and Castellanos hit an opposite-field home run to left that hit off the glove of Heliot Ramos just over the wall. That made it 4-0 Phillies, and after Harrison escaped further damage later in the inning, his day was done.
Harrison’s command has always been an indicator of how he’ll do, and while he only walked one better today, it was still not good. The Phillies also made a lot of hard contact off him. The most stinging stat is that the Phillies got 12 hits in just five innings against Harrison.
“[I’m] pissed off,” said Harrison. “Any time you look up and see [you’ve allowed] 12 hits, it’s not a good day.”
Sanchez proceeded to pitch a shutdown 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth. Luke Jackson relieved Harrison in the top of the sixth and pitched two perfect innings. Sanchez pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth to put a cap on his afternoon, and Gregory Soto followed that up with a quick and scoreless bottom of the seventh for Philadelphia.
Randy Rodriguez, who has pitched well as of late for the Giants, came in for the eighth, but his fortunes took a dip Wednesday. Schwarber and Harper each knocked in runs with base-hits to pretty much put the game away, as the Phillies opened up their lead to 6-0.
Seranthony Dominguez pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth for Philadelphia, and submariner Tyler Rogers pitched a 1-2-3 top of the ninth for the Giants.
The Giants were able to get on the board off Spencer Turnball in the bottom of the ninth, as Flores doubled, and Ramos singled him in, but that would be it. Trenton Brooks pinch-hit for Tyler Fitzgerald and grounded out to first to end the game.
Sanchez got the win, and Harrison took just his second loss of the season. The Giants fall to 29-28, as they were unable to complete the sweep, but the fact that they were able to take two out of three against the best team in baseball is no small accomplishment.
The Giants will have a day off Thursday, and then they will welcome the New York Yankees to Oracle Park for a three-game series starting Friday night. It will be the Yankees’ first trip to San Francisco since they swept the Giants from April 26-28, 2019. The Yankees have not announced a starter yet and the Giants will start Jordan Hicks, and first pitch will be at 7:15 p.m.
News and Notes:
Marco Luciano is expected to be day to day with his strained right hamstring. He should be reevaluated no later than Friday.
Jung-hoo Lee is expected to have his operation on his dislocated left shoulder next Monday, June 3.
