Phillies complete sweep of Rockies
PHILADELPHIA >> A homestand that began with grumbling and booing ended with cheers and ovations Sunday for Bryce Harper.
Hitting a home run for a second consecutive day and driving in six runs in a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, Harper was able to recover some fan support after striking out seven times and producing two-hits in a four-game series against Milwaukee.
“It’s just having the great fan base that we do,” Harper said. “They give a crap, plain and simple. They give a crap about everything. I love it. We’re very fortunate to play in front of a fan base like that.”
Sufficiently inspired, the Phillies swept the threegame series, winning Sunday, 7-5, with Harper’s tworun home run in the sixth making the difference.
“When he is the best version of himself, it gives everybody in the lineup confidence,” Gabe Kapler said. “That swagger rubs off on his teammates, and quite frankly, rubbed off on everybody in the ballpark today.”
Harper was sputtering and the Phils lost three of four to Milwaukee. But when he was hot, they swept the Rockies.
“Each day, I just try to get better,” Harper said. “Stick with the same routine and see what works for you. As a group, we’ve done a great job of sticking to it, and myself as well.”
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The Phillies activated Scott Kingery from the injured list and demoted Nick Williams to Class AAA Lehigh Valley.
That left the Phillies without a regular lefthanded-hitting reserve. Backup catcher Andrew Knapp, who started Sunday, is a switch-hitter.
“Obviously, it’s a bit of an odd bench right now,” assistant general manager Ned Rice said. “We have three right-handed hitters and a catcher. But all three of those guys are pretty versatile. We feel comfortable with any of those guys playing just about any position. So I think we’re covered everywhere. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll evaluate. We can always make changes there.”
On days when Kapler uses his regular lineup, his bench would include Kingery, Knapp, Sean Rodriguez and Phil Gosselin.