PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Bryce Harper hit his 10th homer, his 200th career double
and drove in four before fouling a ball off his foot and exiting in the fifth
inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-4
following a rain delay Wednesday night.
The hot-hitting Harper had his second straight multihit, multi-RBI game against
the Cardinals. He drove a two-run homer to left-center in the third and followed
an inning later with a two-run hustle double. He had three hits when he left the
game with the Phillies ahead by 10 runs.
Aaron Nola (6-0) struck out eight over seven innings, a needed lift to save a
bullpen depleted by injuries. Scott Kingery and Maikel Franco hit back-to-back
homers in the fifth, and Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run shot two batters later
to blow the game open.
The Phillies played Genesis’ “I Can’t Dance” when the Cardinals took batting
practice, and Genesis Cabrera quickly proved he was in too deep in his major
league debut.
The biggest smash hit? Harper crushed a no-doubt shot in the second that had
the fans that waited out a 1-hour, 39-minute rain delay roaring as he rounded
the bases.
Cabrera had already fallen into a hole in the first because of a stunning
miscue in right field by Dexter Fowler. With runners on first and second, Rhys
Hoskins hit a routine pop that Fowler stabbed at and missed. Cesar Hernandez
made the Cardinals pay with a two-run single for the 2-0 lead. Fowler was with
Colorado when he famously misplayed a ball in a gusty wind in Philly in the 2009
division series. Ten years later, the park still gives him fits.
Harper hit his 200th career double, he’s on pace for 50-plus this season, in
the fourth inning, and the rout was underway.
Michael Wacha, who lost his spot in the rotation to Cabrera, had his rough
season hit a new low: he gave up three home runs in the same inning and the
Phillies took an 11-1 lead. McCutchen’s homer off Wacha made him 1 for 1 with
four runs scored (he walked three times).
UP NEXT
RHP Dakota Hudson (3-3, 4.22 ERA) takes the mound for the Cardinals in the
series finale Thursday against Phillies RHP Jerad Eickhoff (2-2, 3.86).
Game time is 12:05 with the pre-game at 11:10 on KTLO-AM.
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