Bryce Harper paid the price for talking smack in the top of the first inning.
The Philadelphia Phillies slugger Harper got the scoring started on Saturday against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park in Atlanta, Ga with a solo homer off Tyler Mahle. Harper celebrated his dinger by taking a painfully slow home run trot of 34.27 seconds, even coming to almost a complete stop to gesture as he rounded third base.
Bryce Harper pic.twitter.com/OldxpxFJMA
— Barstool Baseball (@StoolBaseball) September 12, 2026
Harper was apparently trying to get even with the Braves there. Most notably, Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. pulled a similar move last week against the Phillies in Philadelphia after homering. He even had an almost identical move at third base during his trot, angering Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler and others on the team.
#6Sep | Ronald Acuña Jr. silenció los abucheos con jonrón de tres carreras y Bravos logró remontada ante los Filis.
— El Nacional (@ElNacionalWeb) September 7, 2026
El criollo 🇻🇪 conectó su batazo número 16 del año ante una recta de 100.5 mph de Alex McFarlane , empatando el juego mientras los abucheos de la afición… pic.twitter.com/IsJHX98Mux
Unfortunately for Harper, there was still a lot of baseball left to be played on Saturday. After Harper’s homer, it was all Braves from there as they walloped the Phillies by a final score of 12-2.
As a result, Harper got clowned over social media for the failed troll job.
Bryce Harper did NOT get the last laugh. He hit a solo shot in the 1st, decided to take his time, attempting to get under Acuña’s skin. It didn’t work as Acuña got the last laugh.
— Coach SA (@CoachSA_) September 13, 2026
Phillies ended up losing by 10 runs and are 6 games behind the Braves to end the night pic.twitter.com/NLT79Sa1XL
The former NL MVP Harper pulls the arrogant gimmick every now and then, and he particularly dislikes the Braves given his long and well-documented history with them. But with Atlanta earning a lopsided win on Sunday to all but seal the deal atop the NL East, Harper sure went home with egg on his face there.
