Phillies sweep Braves thanks to Harper’s moonshot

Philadelphia’s perfect lineup came together once again in the 5-1 victory

It was the Bryce Harper show on prime time as the Phillies finished off a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves to start the Harper era.

Harper supplied two hits and two walks on Sunday Night Baseball and put an exclamation point on his night when he hit a moonshot home run in the 5-1 victory.

Andrew McCutchen also supplied the power with an opposite field home run in the third inning for his second home run as a Phillie.

Philadelphia’s offense picked up in the fifth inning despite not getting a single hit. Jake Arrieta started the inning by fouling off six pitches before he flew out to center, drawing memories of Brett Myers’ postseason at-bat versus C.C. Sabathia in 2008.

The Braves then walked McCutchen, hit Jean Segura with a pitch, and walked Harper to load the bases for Rhys Hoskins, who already had a grand slam in the series. While he didn’t pick up his second-career slam, Hoskins walked to give Philadelphia their first lead of the game.

J.T. Realmuto followed up with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead, which was punctuated by Harper’s home run in the seventh.

Maikel Franco got in on the offense again, driving in Hoskins with an RBI single for Philadelphia’s fifth and final run of the game.

The Phillies top five hitters (McCutchen, Segura, Harper, Hoskins, Realmuto) combined to go just 4-12 with two home runs and eight walks. Philadelphia has now walked 19 times to start the season.

On the mound, Jake Arrieta struggled with his command early, walking six batters in six innings but limiting Atlanta to one run with six punchouts.

Adam Morgan pitched a perfect seventh inning and Pat Neshek backed it up with a scoreless eighth. Hector Neris put the game to bed with a perfect ninth inning of his own highlighted with a Brian McCann strikeout.

Braves starter Kyle Wright, who was making his first big league start, also struggled to find the strike zone, allowing five free passes in four and a third innings.

After allowing the moonshot to Harper in the seventh, reliever Matt Carle got into some trouble by plunking Hoskins in the shoulder. Home plate umpire Rob Drake immediately ejected Carle despite most of the pitchers having trouble with their command as the temperatures dropped into the 40s.

The sweep is the first opening series sweep for the Phillies since 2011 when they took three games from the Astros. It’s also the first time since 2001 they swept a division opponent to start the season. Phillies fans celebrated the team’s strong outing with a “mock tomahawk chop.”

The Phillies will get April Fool’s Day off before they travel down to Washington D.C. in Harper’s first game in his old ballpark. Zach Eflin and Max Scherzer are scheduled to start game one of the series.

Philadelphia enters the two-game series as the only undefeated team in baseball.