Top star wasted no time making an impact in his return to the Phillies’ lineup, launching a first-inning home run that helped spark the team’s most productive frame in over a week. The six-run outburst in the opening inning powered the Phillies to an 8-3 win over the Blue Jays in Toronto.
Top star, sporting a new elbow guard with a sleeve, took an easy swing on an 0-2 pitch from Bowden Francis and sent it into the seats for his ninth homer of the season. His blast came right after Trea Turner hit a two-run shot, giving the Phillies back-to-back homers to open the scoring.
The Phillies kept the momentum rolling with an RBI single from Max Kepler and a two-run single from Bryson Stott, giving Cristopher Sánchez a comfortable lead before he threw his first pitch.
Harper’s return brought noticeable balance back to the lineup, especially with Turner batting ahead of him and Kyle Schwarber hitting behind. Turner went deep twice in the game—he now has seven homers this season, all on the road—and is batting .305 with an .815 OPS.
Joking after the game, Harper said, “I was messing with Kyle and messing with Trea that when I hit behind Trea, he’s way better, need to keep Schwarbs in that four-spot. Trea’s such a dynamic player. He hits for average, everything. Just fun to watch him.”
Harper had been out since being hit in the elbow by a 95 mph fastball from Spencer Strider. After dealing with swelling and bruising, he was finally cleared to swing and throw over the weekend. He wasn’t wearing protection when he got hit but plans to consistently use an elbow guard now.
“There’s times where I’m OK with it, there’s other times where it feels kinda weird,” Harper explained last week. “We found a brace that I wore during the Tommy John, so I’ll probably wear that again and a brace on top of that just to kinda feel it out. It’s really hard to find braces that feel good. I haven’t really worn them my whole career, I have here and there just to feel it.”