PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper keeps earning those “MVP!” chants in Philly.
Harper doubled to start a seven-run, game-tying rally in the fourth inning, doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth and sealed the Philadelphia Phillies’ 17-8 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night with a three-run homer in the seventh.
Harper’s NL MVP candidacy — Philly fans call him MV3 — is thriving.
Also alive, improbably,
The Phillies are three games behind first-place Atlanta — rained out Thursday — in the NL East with 16 games left this season, and 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second wild card. San Diego and Cincinnati also lead Philadelphia in the wild-card chase.
With Harper as hot as can be, can the Phillies be counted out yet?
“It feels good but we’ve got a while to go,” Harper said. “I want to keep playing well and have good at-bats, have good games and just be where we need to be down the stretch.”
Each team scored seven runs in an inning, the Cubs taking a 7-0 lead in the third against a pair of relievers in a bullpen game that seemed headed toward a loss that would crush Philadelphia’s season.
Enter Harper.
Year three of his $330 million, 13-year deal has been his best one yet.
“I don’t ever think about it like we don’t want to waste someone’s season,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We’re all involved in this, right? And the game is always, to me, about our team. But he’s a big reason why we’ve hung around, just because of the season that he’s had and the last 2 1/2 months, whatever he’s done. It’s been incredible to watch.”
Add this one to the highlight reel.
Harper doubled and scored in the fourth, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. He's batting .436 (17 for 39) with four doubles, seven homers, 14 RBIs and 11 walks over that stretch. He has a hit in 21 of his last 22 games and is batting .314 with a 1.055 OPS and 77 RBIs this season.
“It's been a show for quite a while," Girardi said.
Just don't ask Harper — he says he refuses to look at his statistics.
“I don't like MVP talk,” he said.
Harper hit again in the fourth against 14-game winner Kyle Hendricks — Andrew McCutchen’s two-RBI double made it 7-5 — and walked to load the bases with two outs in his second at-bat of the inning.
J.T. Realmuto, who hit the tying solo homer in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s 6-5 win, delivered again with a two-run single up the middle off Michael Rucker that tied it at 7.
Cubs manager David Ross said Hendricks “lost his feel” on the mound as the Phillies rallied.
“It just looked like he couldn't execute much,” Ross said. “It looked like the command was off. He ran to a lot of soft stuff. It didn't look like he trusted his stuff tonight. Very uncharacteristic of Kyle tonight. It looked like I was watching a different pitcher out there tonight. I didn't see the guy I normally know.”
The shaky bullpen pitched three scoreless innings, giving Harper more time to come through in the clutch.
Harper lined an RBI double the other way to left off Manuel Rodriguez (3-3) with one out in the sixth for an 8-7 lead. Didi Gregorius sliced a single to about the same spot as Harper’s hit and drove in two, and the Phillies led 10-7.
Then came the finale.
Harper hit his 33rd homer of the season into the second deck in the seventh, a three-run shot off Rex Brothers for 15-8 lead. The Phillie Phanatic danced on the dugout and pumped his furry green arms in the air as fans chanted “MVP!”
“I'm not going to do this every single night,” Harper said.
It sure seems like it. Harper won the 2015 NL MVP with a Washington Nationals team that missed the playoffs. He might not miss out on either by the end of the season.
Hector Neris (3-6) got the win in two innings of relief.
CUBS COLLAPSE
Patrick Wisdom had a two-run double and Matt Duffy hit a three-run homer off JD Hammer in the third for a 7-0 lead. The Cubs had five hits, walked three times, Ian Happ was hit by a pitch, and they sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning.
Willson Contreras hit a solo homer to center off Hector Neris in the seventh and it was 10-8.
REMEBERING RULY
The Phillies raised a “RULY” flag for late team owner Ruly Carpenter. Carpenter died over the weekend at 81. He owned the team when the Phillies won their first World Series in 1980.
UP NEXT
The Cubs did not name a starter for the first of a three-game set at Milwaukee. RHP Adrian Houser (9-6, 3.25 ERA) takes the mound for the Brewers.
The Phillies head to New York for three against the Mets. RHP Zack Wheeler (13-9, 2.86 ERA) and his NL-best 225 strikeouts take the mound against New York RHP Taijuan Walker (7-9, 4.29).
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
