Bryce Harper is one of the most entertaining players to watch in baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies slugger reminded fans of that on Monday with an epic inside-the-park home run against the San Francisco Giants at Citizens Bank Park.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Harper smacked a belt-high sinker from Giants pitcher Sean Hjelle deep to center field. The fly ball sent center fielder Wade Meckler running toward the wall in left center, only for the ball to carom off the wall and roll the opposite way along the warning track.
Harper did not break stride the entire way as Phillies third base coach Dusty Wathan gave the 2-time MVP the green light to score. Harper added in a Michael Jordan-esque shrug while standing beside home plate.
Bryce Harper Inside the Park HR followed by a Jordan Shrug
Impossible to be cooler than this @BarstoolPhilly pic.twitter.com/uTrSxTjVCw
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 22, 2023
The way Meckler was unable to pick up the ball led some to term Harper’s hit a “Little League home run.” Perhaps Harper — who recently had a viral moment at the LLWS — learned a thing or two when the Phillies played in the Little League Classic on Sunday.
Harper’s inside-the-park home run spurred the Phillies to score even more runs the rest of the way. They managed to tack on five more runs to seal a 10-4 victory over the Giants.
The win strengthened the Phillies’ hold over the top NL Wild Card spot. Philadelphia leads the Chicago Cubs by 2.5 games and drops the Giants to 3.0 games back through Monday’s contests.
