Philadelphia Phillies slugger/warrior-poet Bryce Harper entered his team’s Tuesday night contest against the Reds hitless for the season. Harper against Cincinnati swiftly reversed those fortunes by hitting three home runs in a game for the second time in his career. In very much related matters, the Phillies prevailed 9-4 and improved to 2-3 on the young season. The Reds dropped to 3-2.
Harper’s first blast of the evening came in the first inning off Cincy starter Graham Ashcraft. It left the bat at 107.7 mph and went 420 feet to center. Then in the fourth he walloped a first-pitch slider from Ashcraft to the seats in right. (That second home run also occasioned the 1,000th run scored of Harper’s career.)
Then came the seventh inning, when Harper, at the expense of a Brent Suter sinker, smote the seventh grand slam of his career:
Such a notable blast of course merits the alternative, hitter-centric camera angle:
That third homer of the night spanned 422 feet, and that means Harper against the Reds on Tuesday hit an estimated 1,209 feet of homers. Harper’s now the first slugger to have a three-homer game at Citizens Bank Park since Jayson Werth in 2008. And speaking of Harper and Werth:
On the night, Harper went 3 for 4 with three runs scored and six RBI. He entered Tuesday night’s tilt with a slash line of .000/.154/.000 for 2024, and after the three-bomb uprising Harper is now batting .200/.294/.800 on the year.
Harper’s only other three-homer game came against the Marlins in May 2015 when he was a member of the Washington Nationals.
