Phillies and Giants benches cleared after Bryce Harper nearly scored

SAN FRANCISCO — The Phillies’ 6-1 victory over the Giants at Oracle Park on Wednesday afternoon saw the benches empty early in the fourth inning after Philadelphia first baseman Bryce Harper took exception to two consecutive up-and-in fastballs from San Francisco starter Kyle Harrison.

With runners on second and third base and a 1-2 count, Harrison threw Harper back with a 94.1 mph heat hit. Harper yelled at Harrison after that throw, then went back into the box, only to nearly get hit by the next one. While Harper conferred with home plate umpire DJ Reyburn, both the benches and bullpens emptied.

“He had a ball up and in. He had some words,” Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos said. “Another ball went up and in, and then everything just happened. It’s not a logical moment to think. The pitch is fast. It comes up at your head. It’s scary.”

Interestingly, the incident occurred seven years to the day after another memorable bench-clearing brawl involving Bryce Harper and the Giants. On May 29, 2017, Harper (then with the Nationals) stormed the mound after Giants relief pitcher Hunter Strickland hit him in the hip with a fastball. This was the first time the two had met since the 2014 National League Division Series, when Harper hit a long home run against Strickland and stared him down as he rounded the bases.

Personal history was not at play on Wednesday, although Harper welcomed Harrison to Citizens Bank Park last August with a two-run homer in the 22-year-old left-hander’s major league debut.

Harrison said he put Harper inside because he believed that was the best way to attack him. When Harrison misses his spots, it’s usually on the arm side and up, which can really hurt left-handed pitchers like Harper.

“Maybe he missed a little bit,” Harrison said. “But I mean, I don’t know. I’m trying to get him out, man. That’s a good player, so I’ve got to throw him in spots where he might not be happy.”

However, Harper has had some bad experiences with getting hit at the plate. He was hit in the face in April 2021 and was lucky to avoid serious injury, but he was forced to miss two months in 2022 after breaking his left thumb in a hit-by-pitch and requiring surgery.

“It’s just kind of emotional in the moment, isn’t it?” Harper said. “He comes up and in once, and you don’t want to get punched in the face again. I mean, you get punched in the face. It’s just not fun.”

When Harper drifted backward on the second up-and-in pitch, his helmet flew off his head, leading those in the dugout to believe the incident was more serious than it actually was.

“I think our guys were a little upset that he tackled and hit Harp a couple of times,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “It looked worse than it was because the helmet flipped over and broke. From our vantage point, it looked like he got hit there.”

Giants third baseman Matt Chapman spoke with Harper as the benches were being cleared to help de-escalate the situation. He said both sides knew early on that it wasn’t going to come to blows.

“It wasn’t like (Harrison) was trying to hit him and (Harper) was going to charge the mound or anything like that,” Chapman said. “I think (the Phillies) wanted to back him up. I don’t think they came out there with the intention of actually fighting or doing anything like that. Thankfully, nothing bad happened.”

Aside from some light shoving, there was little physical contact and no ejections were issued, although both benches received warnings. The original hit-by-pitch call was overturned after review, and Harper’s at-bat ended in a groundout to shortstop.

Harrison had struck out Harper twice on two previous at-bats before the fourth inning, both times on four-seamers. Harper was later shown slamming his bat into the bench in the dugout after going down swinging in the first inning, and he finished the game with three strikeouts and an RBI single in his final at-bat.

“I know we knocked him down a couple of times before, so maybe he was a little frustrated,” Giants catcher Curt Casali said. “But it’s scary when you get a ball in the face. I can understand what makes him do that. To his credit, he handled it really, really well after the reaction.”