Nobody has ever accused Bryce Harper of not taking dangers.
The Philadelphia Phillies star practically achieved probably the most thrilling performs in baseball, a straight steal of dwelling, and really pulled it off at first look towards the Los Angeles Angels.
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With two outs within the eighth inning and the Phillies up 1-0, Harper tried shock Angels reliever Trevor Martin from third base. Martin rapidly received the ball the plate, however Harper had an honest bounce and was known as secure after making contact with Angels catcher Travis d’Arnaud.
The Angels challenged the decision and had it overturned, with replay leaving it a query of whether or not his hand touched the plate in any respect. d’Arnaud had the plate utterly blocked because the ball got here in (which he’s allowed to do underneath MLB guidelines).
Oddly sufficient, that was the second stolen base try and be reviewed that inning. As Harper was hitting, Trea Turner tried to steal third base and was thrown out.
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In distinction to the Harper name, replay certain appeared to indicate Turner getting his hand to the bag earlier than the tag, just for the decision to be upheld for the second out of the inning.
All of that wound up being fairly related to the end result of the sport as Angels shortstop Zach Neto hit a game-tying homer within the backside of the inning, the fruits of a 12-pitch battle with Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan.
A scoreless ninth inning despatched the sport to extras, the place the Phillies managed to make their baserunning errors moot. Harper and Turner each reached base in a three-run rally within the high of the tenth, giving the Phillies a 4-2 win.
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This was arguably the second-most dramatic end of the sequence, because the Phillies gained Friday evening through a sequence that included a house run theft and a grand slam. This win improves the Phillies’ file to 76-60, retaining them on stable footing within the NL wild-card race.
They at the moment maintain the second wild-card spot and have a four-game cushion on each the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks for a playoff spot.
In the meantime, the Angels are actually tied with the Colorado Rockies for the worst file in MLB at 52-84.