Rob Thomson weighs in on Bryce Harper hustle debate, offers explanation for Wednesday….
Bryce Harper had an eventful top of the fourth inning in Wednesday’s Philadelphia Phillies win over the San Francisco Giants. Obviously, the most notable thing that happened was Harper taking exception after he was buzzed twice by Giants starter Kyle Harrison. That led to benches clearing, although it never turned into a brawl.
When the dust finally settled and players returned to their respective positions, Harrison won the battle, getting Harper to ground out to shortstop for the final out of the inning, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position. San Francisco shortstop Brett Wisely made an off-target throw to first base, but Harper wasn’t running close to 100% out of the box, leaving first baseman Wilmer Flores plenty of time to clean up the throw and step on first base for the final out. Would Harper have been safe if he had been busting it out of the box? Maybe not, but it probably would have been pretty close.
Not running one ball out when you feel like you’ve missed an opportunity to do damage — particularly against a pitcher who, even if it was unintentional, did just throw two pitches up and in at you — is hardly the end of the world. But it’s not the only time where it feels like Harper hasn’t run close to his hardest to first base this season, which is jarring when you consider that his reputation has been of someone that, if anything, has played the game too hard for his own good at times.
But at least in terms of Wednesday’s game, Phillies manager Rob Thomson offered an explanation for why Harper might not have run as hard as fans are accustomed to seeing him.
“Well, the other day was on his first swing of the day he kind of, he didn’t tweak anything, he just felt something in his knee. He’s fine,” Thomson revealed.
“But I checked in with him and and I said ‘Just make sure you can finish this game,’” Thomson added. “He’s probably taking care of some energy too at the same time.”
When a reporter followed up to clarify that Harper doesn’t have any lingering knee issues, Thomson reiterated that the two-time NL MVP is good to go. He’s hitting third in the lineup and playing first base in Friday’s series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park, so there’s no reason to believe Harper isn’t fine.
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