Realmuto keeps playoff hopes alive

PHILADELPHIA » With the taunting right field scoreboard showing the Atlanta Braves with a lead in Arizona, and with Citizens Bank Park quiet after another night of lackluster offense, the Phillies Tuesday looked for a lifeline. They found J.T. Realmuto.

With two out in the bottom of the 10th, and with the Phils’ NL East championship hopes threatened, Realmuto waffled a triple into the right field corner to score Ronald Torreyes from third and presumptive MVP Bryce Harper from first to salvage an unlikely 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

That capped another remarkable night from Harper, who singled, doubled, was intentionally walked in the 10th and scored the winning run.

Harper’s hustle to beat the throw would help obscure a couple of earlier questionable baserunning decisions, including failing to stretch a single to a double and being thrown out at the plate in the eighth inning trying to score against a drawn-in infield.

Harper, whose seven-time appearance on the injury report early in the season likely cost him an All-Star Game nod, has made 61 consecutive starts.

“Well, I think you’d have to give the medical staff the most credit, along with Bryce, the work that he puts in to be out there every day,” Girardi said. “The player has to be willing to put the work in every day, and he is. And the medical staff does an incredible job with him.”

Harper, 28, played 58 of the 60 games in the shortened 2020 season, when the designated-hitter option often allowed him to ease back soreness.