Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper delivered a vintage performance at the plate on Monday night against the Seattle Mariners.
His two-homer game carried the Phillies to a 12-7 win over Seattle, giving them back-to-back games with 11 or more runs.
Both of Harper’s home runs traveled at least 440 feet, making him the first player this season with multiple homers of that distance in the same game.
His first homer came in the sixth inning off an 83-mph sweeper from Mariners pitcher Casey Legumina to give Philadelphia a 7-0 lead.
Harper topped that with a 448-foot shot in the seventh, hitting an 86-mph changeup for his second homer of the game to extend Philadelphia’s lead to 11-4.
According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Harper is the first Phillies player with multiple home runs of 440 feet or more in a game under Statcast (since 2015). It is the second time Harper has accomplished the feat, joining Yordan Alvarez, Willson Contreras, Joey Gallo and Jorge Soler as the only five players to do so.
It was a complete team effort for the Phillies, who recorded 21 hits, 12 runs and four home runs one day after plating 11 against the Washington Nationals.
Starting pitcher Ranger Suarez was equally impressive with a career-high 10 strikeouts across 6.2 innings of two-run ball.
While Harper only had four home runs so far this month, Monday was a reminder of how lethal he can still be at the plate with three hits in six at-bats, two home runs, three RBI and two runs.
He missed 22 games earlier this season due to inflammation in his right wrist, but seems to be returning to form during the stretch run.
The 11 runs against the Nationals, who are in last place in the NL East standings, was not exactly eye-opening, but putting up 12 against a Mariners team that is battling with the Houston Astros for first-place in the AL West is certainly encouraging.
Philadelphia (72-53) currently holds a 5.5 game lead on the New York Mets for the NL East lead. With three wins in its last four games, the Phillies are taking care of business on both sides of the plate and giving themselves a shot at another division crown.
