Bryce Harper limps off field to end Phillies’ loss to Marlins: ‘I’ve never felt anything like this before’

It’s hard to recall a more unpleasant game in recent Phillies memory. It ended with Bryce Harper running to first base in the ninth inning, feeling a grab in his lower left hamstring, and limping off the field on Thursday night. As if that weren’t enough, Kyle Schwarber was removed with left groin tightness shortly after the eighth inning.

The Phillies had no updates to provide on either Harper or Schwarber after their 7-4 loss to the Marlins. Both players will get imaging on Friday. Both players said that they hadn’t felt anything like this before.

Harper said he felt a grab in his left hamstring about halfway up the line. When asked how concerned he should be, he wasn’t able to provide an answer.

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“I don’t know,” he said. “Like I said, I haven’t really felt anything like this before. So, if I had something to go back on, I would let you know. But I’ve never felt anything like this before, so… it hurts. But we’ll see what it feels like tomorrow.”

Schwarber said he felt his groin tighten up in the eighth inning. Otto Lopez hit a ground ball that deflected off Edmundo Sosa’s glove. It rolled into left field, Schwarber grabbed it, and threw it to second base.

“[I] reached down bare-handed, and kind of planted the throw and that’s kind of when it just grabbed,” he said. “I thought it cramped at first, and finished the inning, but just kind of running in, I could still kind of feel it there. I talked to the trainer and he just didn’t like where the spot was for if I was to get an at-bat and had to bust it. So he wanted to get me out of there.”

Thursday was Schwarber’s third game of the season in left field. Despite the fact that it was an unfamiliar injury, he didn’t seem overly concerned.

“Nothing to really compare it to,” he said. “Me, personally, I don’t think it’s going to be super, super bad at all. So, we’ll what happens.”

Injury scares aside, it was a sloppy game all around. The Phillies made some defensive blunders, and the bullpen was uncharacteristically shaky. Starter Zack Wheeler did not have his pinpoint command. He hit one batter and walked two. The Marlins fouled him off quite a bit, and ran his pitch count up to 115 pitches over 6⅔ innings.

Despite that, Wheeler grinded through his start, and at first, it seemed he would get off unscathed. But Matt Strahm, who entered in relief of Wheeler in the seventh, allowed two runs on two hits in one-third of an inning. The Marlins scored six runs in the seventh and eighth innings combined, sending the Phillies to a loss.

It was an unusual outing for Strahm. The left-handed pitcher has been nothing short of dominant this year, posting a 0.86 ERA over his first 31⅓ innings. That number has since ballooned to 1.42.

NBC Sports Philadelphia’s camera caught Wheeler yelling at home plate umpire Emil Jimenez from the dugout. Wheeler seemed to take issue with Jimenez’s missed strike three call, which would’ve ended the seventh inning without any runs scoring.

With the Phillies up 3-0, Wheeler had two outs, with one on, and Ali Sánchez at the plate. He worked Sánchez to an 0-2 count, and threw a four-seam fastball just inside the upper corner of the zone. Jimenez called it a ball, Wheeler threw six more pitches, and Sánchez hit a single to center field.

Strahm came in, hit Jazz Chisholm with a pitch to load the bases, and Bryan De La Cruz doubled to drive all three runners home. Josh Bell doubled to score De La Cruz, giving the Marlins a 4-3 lead.

“There were a few [borderline calls] throughout the game, where I thought they were strikes, and they were just right outside the zone,” Wheeler said, “[But] I knew for a fact that one in the last inning was a strike, and he balled it. And it cost us four runs. So, yeah, I know it’s hard back there, but at the same time, it cost us four runs.”

In the bottom half of the inning, Trea Turner doubled, and Alec Bohm hit a sacrifice fly to score him, and tie the game at 4-4. But reliever Jeff Hoffman allowed a solo home run to Jake Burger in the eighth to give the lead back to Miami.

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As was the case with Strahm, it was an unusual outing for Hoffman. He allowed a solo home run to Burger on the first pitch of his first at-bat, allowed a Nick Gordon double, and threw a wild pitch to allow Gordon to advance to third.

Gordon scored on the aforementioned ball that deflected off Sosa’s glove. Sosa was charged with a fielding error. Hoffman was charged with one earned run on two hits.

“It’s baseball, it happens,” said manager Rob Thomson. “Very uncharacteristic, with Strahmy, who is one of the best guys we’ve got for inherited runners. The hit batsman didn’t help, that’s for sure. Same thing with Hoffy. I think it’s just one of those nights where they didn’t execute pitches. You’re going to have those nights.”

Sosa led off the eighth with a single, but Whit Merrifield, Cristian Pache, and Rafael Marchán went down for three consecutive outs. Yunior Marte, who was recalled on Thursday afternoon, pitched the ninth. He struck out De La Cruz, Bell and allowed a single to Dane Myers.

Myers stole second, and Burger singled him home to give the Marlins a 7-4 lead in the ninth. The Phillies went down 1-2-3 in the ninth.

“Yeah, try to flush that one as quick as possible, right?” Harper said. “Obviously we were ahead 3-0 with Wheels. I thought Wheels threw a really good game. And then we just weren’t able to hold it and their bullpen came in and did their job. Obviously [it was] a game I think we should have won, because of how Wheels threw the baseball.”

Marchán was called up for his defense, not his power, but he now has two home runs in just nine big league games this season. He hit only eight home runs in 416 minor league games.

The backup catcher hit a 409-foot solo home run to left field in the fourth.