In the Philadelphia Phillies’ 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night, Kyle Schwarber hit a deep ball, Bryce Harper yelled at an umpire and was thrown out, and Trea Turner advanced from second to home on a stolen base.
With a shot into the second deck in the first inning, Schwarber hit his 46th home run, tying his league-leading total from the previous season. Turner stole third base in the eighth inning, making it 3-2 after coming around to score on catcher Jason Delay’s botched throw.
However, the fourth-inning fireworks in the regular-season home finale occurred after Harper appeared to hold his swing on a full count against Luis L. Ortiz. When third base umpire ngel Hernández ruled out the slugger, Harper was just beginning to take off his shin guard.
Rob Thomson, the manager, had to physically remove Harper when he pointed a finger in Hernández’s face. Harper then went back to the dugout, threw his helmet over the safety netting, and charged into the crowd.
“I understand you have to live up to a certain big-leaguer mentality,” Harper said. “You have to act like it, you have to show that, so I understand that. But at the same time, when there’s a call that bad, or something happens, it’s just wrong. For everyone.”
Hayden Dorfman, a 10-year-old from Voorhees, New Jersey, found the helmet. The helmet was taken by team members, who later gave it to the child along with a handwritten note from Harper.
“It’s just bad, just all around,” Harper said. “You’re grinding in that at-bat, facing a guy I’ve never faced before. I get to a 3-2 count, I gotta take a slider down and in, obviously didn’t go. And wasn’t even thinking about [strike three] in that situation. I was taking my stuff off and I heard the crowd’s reaction, and I was just like, ‘There’s no way.'”
Harper said it’s “Ángel in the middle of something again. It’s just, every year it’s the same story, same thing. I’m probably going to get a letter from Michael Hill and I’m gonna get fined for being right again. It’s the same thing over and over and over and over again, and it’s just not right.”
